INSIDE  VIEWS  OF 
MISSION  LIFE 

By  ANNIE  L  A.  BAIRD 


3V 

2060 
.B2 
1913 


tihvavy  of  t1\e  theological  Seminary 

PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 


PRESENTED  BY 

Delava.n  L.    Pierson 


BV  2060  .32  -.->^ 

Baird,  Annie  L.  A.  b.  1864. 

Inside  views  of  mission  life 


t'' 


1  Of  PS 


4  Ifi' 


Inside  Views  of 
Mission  Life 


By 
ANNIE   L.   A.    BAIRD 

Missionary  of  the  Presbyteriafi  Church 
at  Pye?ig  Tang,  Korea 


PHILADELPHIA 

The    Westminster    Press 
1913 


Copyright,  191  3,  by 
F.   M.   Braselmann 


Foreword 

My  chief  hesitation  iu  attempting  a  short  de- 
scription of  life  on  the  mission  field,  together 
with  some  suggestions  as  to  the  inner  workings 
of  the  missionary's  mind,  heart  and  soul  as  they 
are  wrought  upon  in  the  daily  grind  of  service, 
is  the  fear  that  some  friend  or  acquaintance  may 
imagine  that  he  or  she  has  been  made  use  of  to 
point  a  moral  or  adorn  what  would  otherwise  be 
a  dull  tale.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  no  added  scintil- 
lation to  these  pages  would  repay  me  for  a  hurt 
dealt  to  a  single  friend.  If  anything  that  may 
be  said  seems  to  come  close  to  the  center  of  that 
world  around  which  the  personality  of  each  of 
my  readers  revolves,  the  reason  may  be  found  in 
the  fact  that  the  inward  and  outward  experiences 
of  those  engaged  in  the  same  line  of  work  are  apt 
to  be  very  much  alike,  and  you,  if  you  look  into 
your  heart  and  life,  are  very  likely  to  find  there 
much  the  same  things  that  I  find  in  mine. 

A.  L.  A.  B. 
Pyeng  Yang,  Korea. 


[3] 


Contents 

I.     Missionary  Temptations  .        .        .7 
II.     Missionary  Trials  ....      41 

III.  How  Busy  Is  THE  Missionary  ?        .       70 

IV.  Missionary  Diversions,  Community 

Life,  and  Some  Other  Matters      94 

V.     Missionary  Joys       .        .        .        .112 


[5] 


Inside  Views  of  Mission  Life 

CHAPTER  I 
MISSIONARY  TEMPTATIONS 

From  the  standpoint  of  our  home  friends,  who 
often  mourn  over  us  with  a  good  deal  of  misap- 
plied solicitation,  doubtless  the  first  chapter  in  a 
book  of  this  sort  ought  to  be  headed  "  Missionary 
Trials."  Some  trials  fall  to  our  lot  in  common 
with  the  rest  of  mankind,  and  these  may  come 
up  for  consideration  in  a  later  chapter,  but  in  the 
mind  of  no  real  missionary  do  they  occupy  a 
prominent  place.  Something  more  trying  than 
trials  is  apt  to  claim  our  attention  soon  after  dis- 
embarking upon  the  foreign  shore  where  our  days 
are  to  be  spent,  and  the  attack  is  often  all  the 
more  grievous  because  it  is  unexpected.  Many 
of  us  are  apt  to  imagine  that— having  once  made 
the  great  decision  to  follow  Christ  to  the  ends 
of  the  earth— we  will  have  entered  upon  a  high 
pUine  of  spiritual  being  where  ordinary  tempta- 
tions are  unknown.  We  fail  to  take  into  con- 
sideration that— of  the  ancient  trinity  of  soul- 
enemies,  the  world,  the  flesh  and  the  Devil— only 

[7] 


INSIDE   VIEWS   OF   MISSION   LIFE 

the  first  is  partially  left  behind.  Not  oue  of  us, 
as  some  one  has  said,  is  able  to  leave  the  home 
part  without  the  brazen  companionship  of  Satan 
and  self,  and  one  of  the  first  forms  that  the  sub- 
tile one  assumes  is  suggested  to  the  conscious 
heart  of  every  mission  worker  by  the  phrase, 
' '  Old  and  new  missionaries. ' ' 

The  reason  is  not  far  to  seek.  We  reach  the 
mission  field  after  years  of  i)reparatiou  for  our 
life  work.  Perhaps  we  have  had  some  experience 
in  the  pastorate  or  other  active  Christian  work, 
or  we  may  have  spent  some  years  in  the  school- 
room and  have  grown  accustomed  to  deference 
and  the  exercise  of  authority.  Now  we  find  our- 
selves in  the  i)osition  of  a  beginner  at  the  very 
alphabet,  literally  and  metaphorically.  Our  past 
record  counts  for  little.  Our  opinions,  based  on 
experiences  with  men  and  things  at  home,  may 
have  been  valuable  there,  but  here  we  find  no 
one  greatly  impressed  with  them.  In  fact,  we 
lose  confidence  in  them  ourselves  when  we  have 
been  awhile  in  the  Orient.  In  marked  contrast 
to  our  inefficiency,  the  body  of  the  older  mission- 
aries confronts  us,  displaying  what  seems  like 
an  amazing  acquaintance  with  the  language  and 
pursuing  their  various  occupations  with  the  calm- 
ness of  conscious  power.  The  situation  is  unex- 
pected and  bewildering,  and  Satan  is  quick  to 
see  his  opportunity.  "I'm  fairly  beset,"  cried  a 
young  missionary  almost  with  tears.  "  I  had  no 
[8] 


MISSIONARY   TEMPTATIONS 

idea  that  I  should  feel  at  such  a  disadvantage 
Avith  all  the  rest  of  yoa." 

Two  courses  are  open  to  us  at  such  a  time. 
We  may  take  the  position  that  we  are  justified 
ill  the  curious  mixture  of  feelings  which  well  up 
in  our  hearts.  "These  old  fellows,"  we  say, 
"  have  the  whole  earth  and  they  want  to  keep  it. 
They  have  had  control  of  the  situation  too  long. 
They  are  not  willing  to  make  room  for  younger 
men."  And  so  we  wait  with  what  patience  we 
can  until  a  few  years  have  passed,  and  then  we 
proceed  to  show  the  old  fellows  that  we  are  a 
force  to  be  reckoned  with,  and  that  the  mission 
has  really  been  waiting  for  us  all  these  years. 
But  this  course,  if  pursued,  will  inevitably  bring 
us  up  against  another  old  fellow  who  has  a  way 
of  turning  the  tables  on  us  in  the  end,  aud  that 
fellow  is  Father  Time.  After— comparatively — 
a  few  short  years  we  ourselves  sit  in  the  seat  of 
the  elders,  and  have  the  opportunity  to  look  on 
at  the  workings  of  young  hearts  with  a  flash  of 
late  comprehension  that  brings  the  color  of  shame 
to  our  cheeks.  How  plain  it  all  is  now !  We 
thought  it  was  justifiable  resistance  to  a  sort  of 
oppression,  zeal  for  the  right,  a  proper  standiug 
up  for  our  rights,  and  we  behold  it  stripped  of 
its  pretty  names  and  showing  itself  for  the  thing 
that  it  really  is,— resentment  at  conscious  help- 
lessness, some  envy  aud  a  good  deal  of  self-as- 
sertiveness  and  personal  ambition  ! 

[9] 


INSIDE   VIEWS   OF   MISSION   LIFE 

But  there  is  another  course — and  I  am  happy 
to  say  that,  as  far  as  my  observation  goes,  the 
large  majority  of  young  missionaries  choose  it  in 
preference  to  the  other — to  take  one's  stand  on 
the  comfortable  conviction  that  our  seniors  in 
the  service  are  entirely  ready  to  grant  the  fact 
of  our  ability  and  that  it  only  remains  for  us 
to  prove  the  possession  of  ability  by  diligent 
mastery  of  our  profession.  From  the  standpoint 
of  the  older  missionaries,  I  suppose  there  are  few 
indeed  who  do  not  look  forward  to  the  advent  of 
fresh  young  life  from*  America  in  high  hopes  of 
something  better,  brighter  and  more  promising 
in  every  way  than  they  themselves  have  been 
able  to  contribute  to  the  common  stock.  And 
more  often  than  not  the  young  missionary  finds 
himself,  from  force  of  circumstances,  loaded  up 
with  work  long  before  he  should  be  so  busy,  in 
justice  to  his  ultimate  and  highest  usefulness. 

At  the  same  time  it  is  true  that  older  men  and 
women  may  easily  form  the  habit  of  expecting 
that,  because  they  have  been  accustomed  to  occupy 
certain  places  of  trust  and  responsibility,  tbey 
will  always  continue  to  do  so ;  or  they  may  as- 
sume to  themselves  a  place  of  privilege  over  those 
newer  on  the  field  ;  or  they  may  be  misled  into  a 
repellent  attitude  to  any  expression  of  opinion 
adverse  to  their  own  ;  and  they  may  even  take 
the  position,  in  committee  meeting  or  elsewhere, 
that  others  must  of  necessity  yield  to  their  will. 

[10] 


MISSIONARY   TEMPTATIONS 

All  this  is  a  pity,  because  there  is  always  a  strong 
probability  that  a  generation  will  arise  that  knows 
not  Joseph,  and  if  it  finds  us  uni)rex3ared  to  recog- 
nize the  fact,  our  feelings  may  be  hurt.  It  is 
much  better  always  to  hold  ourselves  in  readiness 
to  make  room  for  the  newcomer,  and  to  learn 
what  we  can  from  him ;  never  to  take  the  posi- 
tion—even in  thought— that  because  we  arrived 
earlier  in  the  field,  we  are  entitled  to  rights  and 
privileges  that  others  may  not  enjoy. 

In  a  word,  let  us  be  humble.  It  is  a  beautiful 
thing  to  see  a  missionary,  crowned  with  years 
of  service  and  the  honorable  recognition  of  his 
brethren,  who  yet  esteems  it  his  privilege  not  to 
grasp  and  keep  all  the  honors  he  can  get,  but  to 
share  freely  with  others,  to  acknowledge  the 
ability  of  younger  men,  and  their  natural  desire 
to  take  a  full  part  in  the  duties,  responsibilities 
and  honors  of  station  and  mission.  Such  a  man 
will  take  no  pride  in  being  one  of  a  little  oli- 
garchy of  very  efficient  meu,  well  trained  in  all 
the  machinery  of  the  mission,  but  his  ambition 
will  be  the  thorough  training  and  efficiency  of 
his  mission  as  a  whole.  And  what  a  royal  op- 
portunity he  has  of  making  himself  beloved  ! 

A  temptation  to  which  older  missionaries  may 
easily  yield  is  that  of  resorting  to  small  political 
methods  to  accomplish  their  purposes.  Long  ac- 
quaintance with  conditions  on  the  field  and  with 
the  prejudices  and  weaknesses  of  our  fellow  work- 
[11] 


INSIDE  VIEWS   OF   MISSION    LIFE 

ers  makes  it  possible  for  us  to  make  use  of  them 
to  briug  about  our  owu  euds  iu  ways  that  are 
more  or  less  covert.  For  instance,  we  may  make 
it  a  practice  to  cultivate  young  missionaries  with 
an  eye  to  forming  their  views  on  mooted  ques- 
tions. Or  we  may  fall  into  the  habit  of  securing 
— as  far  as  we  are  able — the  appointment  on  com- 
mittees of  only  those  people  who  we  know  can 
be  counted  on  to  represent  our  i)articular  views. 
More  than  one  missionary  in  more  than  one  field 
has  found  himself  tempted  to  resent  bitterly  the 
action  of  a  so-called  majority  of  station  or  mis- 
sion, because  he  knew  that  it  had  been  secured, 
not  by  arguments  and  means  which  were  or  could 
be  employed  in  open  meetings,  but  by  buttonhole 
sessions  and  wire-i)ulling  devices  by  which  preju- 
dices had  been  appealed  to  and  weaknesses  taken 
advantage  of.  Few  people  are  willing  to  be  made 
tools  of  and  few  people  ought  to  stoop  to  make  a 
tool  of  another.  Such  methods  may  pass  for  a 
time  for  tact  or  policj^,  but  iu  the  end  they  will 
seem  more  like  political  chicanery.  Our  ideas 
may  seem  to  us  exactly  right  and  much  better 
than  anything  proposed  by  other  brethren,  but 
if  they  cannot  be  carried  through  wholly  in 
an  open  and  aboveboard  way  they  had  better  be 
dropped. 

I  do  not  mean  by  this  that  any  private  conver- 
sation between  missionaries  on  mission  subjects 
is  necessarily  underhanded.    Often  a  few  moments 
[12] 


MISSIONARY   TEMPTATIONS 

of  quiet  talk  will  open  up  a  subject  to  au  inquir- 
ing mind  as  hours  of  public  debate  could  not  do. 
But  we  should  be  careful  not  to  take  advantage 
of  the  opportunity  afforded  by  private  conversa- 
tion to  resort  to  any  line  of  representation  that 
would  not  bear  the  light  of  publicity.  Anything 
like  au  attempt  to  put  a  newcomer  "next"  to 
the  weaknesses  or  faults  of  a  fellow  missionary 
and  thus  create  a  prejudice  against  him,  ought  to 
be  considered  beneath  us  all.  These  things  were 
pointed  out  to  me  years  ago  by  a  fellow  mis- 
sionary. Perhaps  he  thought  that  I  needed 
the  reminder.  At  any  rate,  I  have  never  for- 
gotten it. 

A  good  way  to  ward  off  this  variety  of  tempta- 
tion from  the  start  is  to  leave  all  party  spirit  be- 
hind us  when  we  come  to  the  field.  ''My  coun- 
try, right  or  wrong, "  is  a  type  of  sentiment  not 
very  noble,  here  or  elsewhere.  If  we  are  so  un- 
fortunate as  to  find  parties  existing  in  our  mission 
when  we  arrive,  let  us  avoid  all  partisanship 
until  we  have  secured  our  bearings,  and  then  if  we 
are  wise  we  will  continue  to  avoid  it.  This  ex- 
tends to  the  relation  between  station  and  mission. 
Loyalty  to  one's  station  is  a  goodly  thing  within 
bounds,  but  it  is  possible  to  press  it  so  far  that 
it  becomes  disloyalty  to  the  mission  at  large. 
Dearer  to  us  than  the  welfare  of  any  one  station 
should  be  that  of  the  whole  mission  with  which 
we  are  connected.     Let  us  set  our  whole  hearts 

[13] 


INSIDE   VIEWS   OF   MISSION   LIFE 

from  the  time  we  join  our  mission  upon  helping 
it  to  attain  and  maintain  that  condition  of  perfect 
unity  described  as  "right feeling  toward  God  and 
man."  This  is  not  equivalent  to  saying,  ."Let 
us  all  think  alike."  No  one  since  the  days  of 
the  Inquisition  has  really  started  out  to  accom- 
plish such  a  consummation  on  any  large  scale, 
and  even  if  this  were  possible,  it  would  be  ac- 
companied with  great  loss,  for  all  that  it  would 
mean  in  the  final  analysis  would  be  that  some 
one  person  would  tell  us  what  to  think,  and  we 
should  get  the  benefit  of  the  judgment  of  the  one 
individual  only  instead  of  the  whole.  Differ 
from  each  other  we  probably  will,  but  there  is  a 
way  of  doing  it  without  contention  and  in  the 
spirit  of  love.  In  striving  after  this  it  will  help 
us  to  remember  that  we  have  no  monopoly  of  the 
Spirit's  guidance.  Others  are  as  likely  to  be  led 
of  him  as  we,  and  it  is  quite  possible  that,  though 
thinking  we  are  right,  we  may  yet  be  wrong. 

Another  help  in  any  strivings  we  may  make 
after  that  state  of  union  with  our  brethren  de- 
scribed above  as  right  feeling,  is  to  get  rid  of  a 
certain  other  commodity  which  too  often  slips  in 
with  our  luggage,  and  that  is  personal  ambition. 
It  is  astonishing  to  what  extent  this  "  mounting 
devil '^  attempts  to  rule  the  thoughts  and  motives 
of  the  best — no  less  than  the  worst — of  us.  Like 
a  fly  in  the  dried  currants,  he  likes  to  get  himself 
mistaken  for  better  things  and  enjoys  being  called 
[14] 


MISSIONARY   TEMPTATIONS 

by  such  euphemisms  as  "  natural  desire  to  excel, '^ 
or  -'proper  pride,"  but  a  little  close  iuspectiou 
will  bring  to  light  the  mark  of  the  beast. 

George  Washiugtou  is  said  to  have  been  a 
model  for  us  in  this  as  well  as  other  respects,  in 
that  he  was  ''absolutely  without  personal  ambi- 
tion," and  the  Father  of  His  Country  has  some 
humble  followers  on  the  mission  field.  I  recall  a 
missionary  who  arrived  on  the  field  after  an  un- 
usually long  and  evidently  successful  career  at 
home.  We  waited  with  some  concern  to  see 
whether  or  not  he  would  be  able  to  adjust  him- 
self to  changed  conditions,  but  all  anxiety  was 
dispelled  when  it  was  known  that  he  was  ac- 
customed to  pray  that  he  might  ever  be  willing 
to  occupy  a  secondary  place.  Xo  place  occupied 
by  such  a  man  could  be  called  secondary  in  any 
real  sense.  Eoom  for  right  ambition  the  mission- 
ary had  to  a  boundless  extent,  because  he  had 
within  himself  at  least  one  of  the  elements  of  true 
greatness,  namely,  humility.  But  his  ambition 
was  for  God  and  for  the  advancement  of  his 
cause  through  every  human  agency.  As  for  self, 
he  was  not  ambitious  one  moment.  The  old 
Moravians  knew  the  human  heart  when  they  put 
into  their  liturgy  the  petition,  "  From  the  desire 
of  being  great,  O  Lord,  deliver  us  !  "  And  only 
a  little  Christian  experience  is  required  to  know 
that  in  narrow  circles  such  as  we  have  in  the 
mission  field  nothing  but  heartburnings  and  un- 
[15] 


INSIDE   VIEWS   OF   MISSION   LIFE 

holy  disturbance  of  ther  wliole  working  body  can 
arise  from  any  contest  for  leadership. 

The  spirit  of  a  hireling  is  something  for  mis- 
sionaries to  shut  the  door  against  resolutely. 
This  spirit  may  manifest  itself  in  several  ways. 
A  man  may  indulge  himself  in  the  feeling  that, 
— having  given  what  he  regards  as  a  reasonable 
number  of  hours  to  his  school  or  hospital ;  in  other 
words,  having  accomplished  as  a  hireling  his  day, 
— he  is  justified  in  shutting  out  the  natives  and 
their  claims  for  the  remainder  of  his  waking  hoars 
and  devoting  the  time  to  sports,  promiscuous  read- 
ing or  social  enjoyment.  This  is  to  take  the 
position  of  an  employee  who  has  no  interest  in 
the  enterprise  beyond  drawing  his  daily  wage 
and  rendering  his  daily  equivalent.  The  same 
spirit  shows  itself  in  a  disposition  to  criticize  the 
board  and  to  resent  the  fact  that  we  are  under 
authority.  No  missionary  can  do  this  without 
great  spiritual  loss  to  himself.  We  see  the  same 
thing  in  unruly  children,  in  schoolboys  and  among 
hired  men  and  women,  but  to  find  it  in  the  church 
at  home  and  among  Christian  missionaries  on  the 
field  comes  as  an  uni^leasant  surprise.  Boards, 
being  composed  of  human  units,  are  doubtless 
capable  of  error,  but  the  same  thing  may  be  said 
of  the  missions  that  represent  them,  and  the  one 
thing  ever  to  be  borne  in  mind  is  that  the  interests 
of  the  two  bodies  are  identically  the  same.  One 
cannot  be  undermined  or  injured  in  any  way 
[16] 


MISSIONARY   TEMPTATIONS 

without  detriment  to  the  other.  Cori)oratioDS 
may  be  ever  so  soulless,  but  boards,  I  am  cou- 
viuced,  have  both  souls  aud  hearts,  for  I  kuow  of 
board  secretaries  who  hardly  seem  able  to  write 
even  business  letters  without  gettiug  a  bit  of  their 
hearts  into  them. 

Our  relation  as  missionaries  to  our  adopted 
people  is  a  subject  to  which  we  ought  to  give 
careful  consideration.  The  disposition  to  claim 
lordshij)  over  other  peoples  is  said  to  be  common 
to  the  Anglo-Saxon,  and  it  crops  out  readily  wlien 
we  are  brought  into  contact  with  Orientals,  for 
the  reason  that  their  i)assive,  yielding  demeanor 
gives  little  clue  to  the  overweening  pride  that  lies 
beneath  the  surface.  A  missionary  in  Africa  is 
said  to  have  labored  fruitlessly  for  seven  years 
before  he  discovered  that  the  chief  obstacle  to 
success  had  been  himself,  because  of  his  dicta- 
torial, overbearing  ways.  It  is  so  easy  for  us  to 
arrive  on  the  field  firm  in  the  conviction  that  we 
are  conferring  a  great  favor  on  the  natives  to 
come  at  all,  aud  so  from  the  start  assuming  an 
attitude  of  condescension.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
the  people  have  done  without  us  for  some  hun- 
dreds of  years,  and  a  good  many  of  them  still  think 
that  they  could  continue  to  do  so.  It  was  not  the 
call  of  the  heathen  that  brought  us  to  the  mission 
but  the  call  of  Christ.  If  we  find  ourselves 
inclined  to  regard  the  people  with  a  trace  of 
superciliousness,  it  may  help  us  to  look  at  our- 
[17] 


INSIDE   VIEWS   OF   MISSION    LIFE 

selves  for  a  moment  from  their  staudpoiiit.  As 
we  pass  aloug  the  crooked  footpaths  which  an- 
swer for  streets,  threading  our  way  among  heaps 
of  unspeakable  filth,  we  think,  "  Was  ever  any- 
thing more  dreadful  1  What  would  mother  say 
if  she  could  see  me  now  ? ' '  Yet  at  least  one 
Korean  on  attempting  to  make  his  home  in  New 
York  City  found  the  odors  unendurable  and  came 
home.  We  love  our  people  from  the  start,  but 
we  wonder  sometimes  how  our  fastidious  olfacto- 
ries are  ever  going  to  become  accustomed  to  their 
bodily  presence.  They  in  their  tarn,  with  ever 
ready  courtesy,  resolutely  suppress  the  look  of 
disgust,  and  account  for  the  strange  effluvia  by 
the  charitable  assumption  that  it  must  be  due  to 
our  wearing  woolen  clothes  so  much  and  never 
washing  more  than  the  inner  clothes.  When  sufii- 
cient  acquaintance  warrants  the  familiarity,  and 
we  intimate  to  them  that  they  ought  to  bathe  at 
least  once  a  week,  instead  of  once  a  year  or  not  at 
all,  they  answer  with  a  pleasant  ^'  Kurusimuaita  " 
(very  true),  and  a  mental  reservation  to  the  effect 
that  that  may  be  all  very  well  for  people  like 
these  foreigners  whose  natural  condition  evidently 
compels  it ! 

Until  the  introduction  of  Christianity  the  one 
reason  in  Korean  minds  for  the  existence  of 
women  was  the  exercise  of  the  maternal  function. 
To  be  a  mother  was  their  one  claim  to  considera- 
tion, and  they  were  accustomed  to  dress  in  a  way 
[18] 


MISSIOxNARY   TEMPTATIONS 

to  present  the  least  possible  obstruction  to  the 
frequent  nourishment  of  their  little  ones.  The 
exposure  that  resulted  was  a  never  ending  offense 
to  a  vigorous  old  lady  from  Kentucky  who  spent 
several  years  in  Seoul.  She  used  to  descend 
bodily  on  women  thus  unattired  whom  she  met 
on  the  street,  and  make  energetic  though  futile 
attempts  to  pull  their  skirts  and  jackets  together 
across  the  objectionable  gap,  scolding  the  mean- 
while in  good  round  English,  not  one  word  of 
which  the  victims  could  understand.  I  never 
had  any  reason  to  think  that  she  accomplished 
anything  beyond  a  strong  impression  on  the  mind 
of  the  assaulted  one  that  this  must  be  a  foreign 
devil  of  a  peculiarly  violent  type,  and  I  used 
to  wonder  what  these  same  women  would  have 
thought  could  they  have  seen  a  crowd  of  Southern 
or  ^NTorthern  ^ '  quality ' '  gathered  together  for  an 
evening  dance.  What  explanation  would  they 
have  regarded  as  sufficient  to  account  for  the 
unseemly  lack  of  attire  and  the  unheard-of  famil- 
iarity of  the  attitudes  ? 

A  Korean  woman  once  called  my  attention  to  the 
fact  that  the  placket  of  my  shirt-waist  sleeve  was 
gaping,  exposing  the  flesh  of  my  forearm.  This 
was  done  as  an  act  of  kindness  and  evidently  with 
the  idea  that  I  would  rectify  the  matter  at  once. 
Since  then  I  have  often  wondered  what  Korean 
gentlefolks  think  of  elbow-sleeves  and  tiglit-fitting 
gowns,  but  I  have  never  ventured  to  inquire. 
[19] 


INSIDE  VIEWS   OF   MISSION   LIFE 

It  seems  too  bad  to  exhort  young  missionaries 
to  cultivate  self  consciousness,  but  I  am  sure  that 
we  would  all  be  glad  to  do  even  this  rather  than 
give  unfavorable  impressions  to  our  people.  A 
lively  little  missionary  lady  in  a  new  gown  from 
home,  preening  herself  from  side  to  side  as  she 
calls  attention  to  her  fresh  finery,  is  a  pietty  and 
harmless  sight  to  us,  but  what  an  oriental  gen- 
tleman looking  on  sees  and  thinks  is  far  from 
complimentary  to  her  modesty  or  innocence. 
Any  conspicuousness  in  dress  or  manner  that 
could  possibly  be  construed  as  parading  one's 
person  ought  to  be  avoided  carefully.  Men  mis- 
sionaries will  do  well  to  recognize  from  the  start 
that  there  is  a  great  barrier  fixed  between  the 
sexes  in  the  Orient,  and  if  they  thoughtlesslj^ 
overstep  it  in  their  demeanor  toward  either  na- 
tive or  foreign  women,  they  run  the  risk  of  com- 
promising them  in  the  estimation  of  onlookers. 
Clean  minds  and  pure  hearts  are  outside  of  the 
observation  and  experience  of  a  non-Christian 
people,  and  they  are  naturally  slow  to  compre- 
hend them  when  transplanted  into  their  midst. 
Given  time,  Christianity  will  change  all  this,  as 
it  has  done  in  Christian  communities  the  world 
over,  but  in  the  meantime  let  us  be  willing  to 
surrender  something  of  our  liberty  in  considera- 
tion of  our  weak  brethren. 

Sometimes  it  takes  years  for  us  to  compre- 
hend what  living  epistles  we  are  to  our  adopted 

[20] 


MISSIONARY   TEMPTATIONS 

people.  Every  look,  word  and  action  is  noted, 
commented  on,  repeated  to  others,  and  often,  per- 
haps, misconstrued.  A  woman  patient,  grateful 
for  treatment  received,  brings  a  present  of  eggs 
to  the  woman  physician.  The  doctor,  knowiug 
the  patient's  poverty,  deprecates  the  gift,  and 
allows  a  troubled  frown  to  overspread  her  coun- 
tenance. The  poor  woman,  anxiously  scanning 
her  face,  reads  there  only  discontent  with  the 
meager  offering,  and  slinks  away,  chilled  and 
hurt.  Or  we  find  our  chair  coolies  trying.  They 
creep  along  at  a  snail's  pace  when  we  are  in  a 
great  hurry,  or  they  go  too  fast  and  endanger  our 
lives  by  bumping  against  stones  and  posts.  We 
attempt  to  rectify  the  matter  by  a  vigorous  use 
of  the  vernacular,  and  after  an  instance  or  two  of 
this  kind,  we  have  won  the  nickname,  Mrs.  Best- 
Scolder-of-All.  Or  we  give  way  to  a  real  burst 
of  temper  a  time  or  two  when  circumstances 
grow  particularly  irritating,  and  hereafter  be- 
come known  as  the  Mitchin  Moksa  (Crazy  Pas- 
tor). Some  one  says,  "  Why,  it  is  temi)er  rightly 
applied  that  has  made  the  Anglo-Saxon  the 
dominant  race  of  the  world."  Perhaps  so,  but 
the  fact  remains  that  temper  wrongly  applied  has 
been  the  bane  of  many  a  missionary  and  effectu- 
ally nullified  much  hard,  self-sacrificing  labor. 
An  oriental  woman  once  remarked  that  she 
thought  Western  people  (her  acquaintance  with 
the  Occident  had  been  limited  altogether  to  mis- 

[21] 


INSIDE   VIEWS   OF   MISSION    LIFE 

sionaries)  must  be  strangely  fierce  by  nature,  and 
held  in  check  only  by  the  fact  that  they  are 
Christians.  Our  adopted  people  shock  us  by 
their  aptitude  at  lying,  and  we  surprise  them 
beyond  measure  if  we  show  a  lack  of  self-control. 
Nowhere  so  much  as  on  the  mission  field  is  it 
possible  for  our  actions  to  speak  so  loudly  that 
no  one  can  hear  what  we  say. 

The  confident  assumption  that  Eastern  peoples 
are  humbly  ready  to  grant  the  superiority  of  our 
ways  has  led  many  a  missionary  into  blunders. 
We  want  to  inculcate  the  dignity  of  labor,  and 
begin  by  telling  our  servants  that  in  America 
people  as  a  rule  do  their  own  work  ;  our  parents 
were  accustomed  to  do  so,  except  in  special  emer- 
gencies, and  we  ourselves  were  brought  up  to 
labor.  The  bland  countenances  before  us  express 
nothing  but  gratitude  for  a  statement  so  inform- 
ing as  to  a  better  state  of  things,  but  deep  down 
in  the  oriental  heart  the  surmise  is  confirmed : 
*'  Nothing  but  coolies,  after  all.     I  thought  so  ! '' 

In  this  connection  comes  up  the  question  of  the 
style  of  living  of  missionaries.  Many  things  sur- 
prise us  when  we  first  reach  the  field.  We  come 
out  keyed  up  to  endure  physical  hardship  of  any 
and  every  description,  and  we  find  the  mission- 
aries living  for  the  most  part  in  comfortable 
houses,  surrounded  by  bevies  of  yellow,  black  or 
brown  servants,  as  the  case  may  be,  and  present- 
ing altogether  an  appearance  of  astonishing  ease. 

[22] 


MISSIONARY   TEMPTATIONS 

Our  thoughts  go  back  to  the  friends  aud  relatives 
at  home  who  have  just  committed  us  so  tearfully 
to  the  privations  of  the  mission  field.  We  re- 
member that  many  of  them  do  their  own  work, 
wholly  or  in  part.  We  cast  a  look  at  the  wife  or 
husband  of  our  bosom,  and  see  the  same  look  in 
his  or  her  face.  We  talk  it  over  together  and 
both  conclude  that  it  cannot  be  altogether  right. 
Others  may  do  as  they  see  fit,  but  as  for  ourselves, 
we  will  adopt  a  different  course,  a  plainer,  more 
evidently  laborious  one,  and  one  better  calculated 
'to  satisfy  the  occidental  conscience.  Perhaps  we 
decide,  as  some  have  done,  to  dispense  with  serv- 
ants altogether,  and  do  all  our  own  work,  even  to 
the  hewing  of  wood  and  the  drawing  of  water,  or 
if  we  do  employ  servants  it  is  with  a  guilty  feel- 
ing of  self-indulgence. 

But  as  time  passes  on  and  our  mental  vision 
clears,  we  begin  to  see  that  the  cheapest  and  most 
plentiful  thing  under  heathen  skies  is  human 
manual  labor,  and  the  scarcest  and  most  precious 
is  missionary  time  and  strength.  We  will  soon 
realize,  too,  with  an  intensity  that  is  almost  pain- 
ful, that  we  are  face  to  face  with  the  most  diffi- 
cult undertaking  of  our  whole  lives,  the  acqui- 
sition of  an  Eastern  language,  and  we  begin  to 
see  that  upon  the  acquisition  of  this  language,  by 
ourselves  and  others  like  us,  depends  the  eternal 
and  in  a  large  sense  the  temporal  welfare  of  a 
whole  people.     We  observe,  too,  if  we  have  the 

[23] 


INSIDE  VIEWS   OF   MISSION   LIFE 

opportunity  to  do  so,  that  those  missionaries  who 
undei'take  to  su]3port  themselves  wholly  or  in 
part,  or  who  for  any  reason  elect  to  dispense  with 
servants,  while  they  may  prove  to  everyone's 
satisfaction  that  they  are  able  to  live  on  less 
money  than  others  do,  are  not  able,  as  a  rule,  to 
prove  that  they  can  become  as  efficient  mission- 
aries. Then  we  begin  to  thank  God  for  the  mod- 
est competence  which  enables  us  to  turn  over  to 
strong  and  willing  hands  the  actual  labor  of  daily 
life  while  we  give  our  whole  time  and  strength  to 
the  prosecution  of  the  missionary  enterj)rise. 

Having  once  yielded  to  the  employment  of 
servants,  it  is  very  easy  to  go  to  the  other  extreme 
and  employ  more  than  are  necessary.  The  temp- 
tation is  strong,  since  it  comes  so  easily  and 
cheaply,  to  increase  our  style  of  living.  Even  a 
native  of  America,  with  all  its  boasted  democracy, 
may  have  a  bit  of  snobbisliness  deeply  imbedded 
somewhere  in  his  original  protoplasm.  To  be  lord 
over  a  little  crowd  of  underlings  gives  him  g, 
pleasant  feeling  of  power  and  position.  He  likes 
the  possibilities  so  easily  afforded  of  liviug ''in 
style."  Why  not,  for  instance,  when  guests  are 
present,  have  dinner  served  in  half  a  dozen  or 
more  courses,  since  all  we  have  to  do  is  to  dispose 
of  it  as  it  comes  on  ?  There  is  justification  for  all 
this,  too,  in  the  fact  that  it  is  so  entirely  in  ac- 
cord with  oriental  ideas  of  what  is  good  and 
reasonable,  and  we  tell  ourselves  that  a  certain 
[24] 


MISSIONARY   TEMPTATIONS 

amount  of  pomp  and  circumstauce  increases  the 
estimation  in  which  we  are  held  by  the  natives. 

Bat  there  is  a  better  way,  and  that  is  to  take  a 
firm  grip  on  our  original  ideas  of  missionary 
plainness  and  simplicity,  and  never  let  go  of  them. 
As  far  as  the  natives  are  concerned,  we  cannot 
live  on  so  simple  a  scale  but  that  we  still  present 
to  their  eyes  a  picture  of  unimagined  wealth. 
The  mere  possession  of  such  everyday  articles  as 
chairs,  tables,  rugs  and  a  sewing  machine  puts 
us  far  off  into  the  region  of  unattainable  riches, 
and  the  plainest  missionary  home  is  still  a  palace 
in  the  eyes  of  the  native. 

The  assumption  of  any  sort  of  rank,  or  the  set- 
ting up  of  claims  to  any  consideration  beyond  that 
due  an  ambassador  of  the  meek  and  lowly  Jesus, 
may  succeed  in  exciting  a  species  of  awed  sub- 
mission on  the  part  of  the  people,  but  I  have  yet 
to  be  persuaded  that  it  ever  wins  their  love.  The 
example  of  the  Master  in  this  respect  ought  to  be 
sufficient  for  us. 

This  principle  of  avoiding  any  disposition  to 
set  ourselves  up  as  grandees  applies  particularly 
to  the  sort  of  houses  we  build.  Perhaps  no  fea- 
ture of  missionary  life  has  excited  so  much  sense- 
less, ignorant,  not  to  say  malicious  criticism  as 
our  houses.  One  man,  after  a  trip  to  the  Orient, 
was  quoted  in  a  periodical  devoted  to  the  interests 
of  an  independent  mission,  and  giving  inciden- 
tally a  considerable  portion  of  its  space  to  attacks 

[25] 


INSIDE  VIEWS   OF   MISSION   LIFE 

upon  regularly  organized  mission  boards,  to  the 
effect  that  if  the  truth  were  known  about  the  work 
of  the  mission  boards  in  the  Orient,  the  contribu- 
tions for  their  support  would  fall  away  very  ma- 
terially. And  the  one  dark  fact  that  he  saw  fit 
to  divulge  was  that  everywhere  he  went  through 
the  Orient  he  found  that  the  missionaries  had 
selected  the  "highest  and  healthiest  sites'^  for 
their  homes ! 

What  we  want  to  consider  is  not  such  criticisms 
as  are  too  inane  to  be  worth  a  troubled  thought, 
but  the  opinions  of  intelligent  friends  of  missions 
who  are  reluctant  to  admit  any  fault  on  our  part 
and  would  like  to  see  us  comfortable  and  health- 
fully housed,  yet  in  a  way  to  disarm  just  criticism. 
Sometimes  missionaries  are  left  to  bear  the  brunt 
of  situations  for  which  they  are  not  responsible, 
as,  for  instance,  when  a  man  by  the  use  of  pri- 
vate means,  in  addition  to  the  board's  appropria- 
tion, erects  a  structure  more  gratifying  to  an 
ornate  architectural  taste  than  to  plain  mission- 
ary ideas.  Then,  from  failure  of  health,  or  other 
reasons,  he  leaves  the  mission  field,  and,  for  the 
indefinite  future,  one  unfortunate  family  after 
another  is  left  to  occupy  his  ''palace"  and  make 
what  explanations  they  can  to  wondering  visitors 
and  fellow  workers.  Or  a  friendly  and  benevo- 
lently disposed  architect  comes  along.  He  finds 
the  missionary,  whose  experience  with  building 
operations  up  to  the  present  has  probably  been 

[26] 


MISSIONARY   TEMPTATIONS 

limited  to  lieucoox3s,  wrestling  with  the  problem 
of  how  to  get  his  house  built.  The  architect 
offers  his  services,  aud  the  offer  is  too  plainly 
providential  to  be  refused.  But  the  architect's 
professional  standard  is  high,  and  he  holds  the 
generous  theory,  too,  that  missionaries  ought  to 
have  the  best  there  is.  The  result  is  an  edifice 
at  which  visitors  look  askance,  and  which  keeps 
the  missionary  continually  apologizing. 

It  is  so  good  to  keep  away  from  this  atmos- 
phere of  hostile  criticism  that  occasionally  a 
missionary  goes  to  the  other  extreme,  and  puts 
up  a  house  which,  while  it  may  be  cheap,  cannot 
be  said  to  be  economical  from  any  standpoint  of 
comfort,  convenience  or  stability.  Perhaps  the 
rooms  are  too  small,  and  the  occupants  pass  the 
time  thereafter  in  a  state  of  cramped  physical 
existence.  Or  the  rooms  may  be  large  enough, 
but  they  are  too  few,  and  so  additions  must  be 
put  on  from  time  to  time  with  the  strong  proba- 
bility that  in  the  end  the  house  will  cost  more 
and  be  less  satisfactory  in  every  way  than  if  it 
had  been  planned  on  a  sufficiently  large  scale  to 
begin  with. 

"Keep  in  the  middle  of  the  road,"  is  good 
advice  here  or  elsewhere.  Two  things  are  to  be 
borne  in  mind.  First,  that  mission  money,  be- 
ing trust  funds,  ought  to  be  put  into  buildings 
that  are  substantial,  and  up  to  a  reasonable 
standard  of  comfort  and  convenience.     Second, 

[27] 


INSIDE  VIEWS   OF  MISSION   LIFE 

that  mission  money,  for  the  same  reason,  ought 
not  to  be  pnt  into  unnecessary  spaciousness  or 
ornamentation,  and  these  two  thiugs  resolve 
themselves  finally,  of  course,  into  a  question  of 
wise  judgment.  It  is  not  a  pleasant  reflection 
that  we  are  a  city  set  on  a  hill,  a  target  for 
criticism  from  every  wandering  one  who  may 
strike  our  station,  but  it  is  a  good  thing  to  re- 
member when  we  start  to  build  houses,  as  well 
as  the  additional  fact  that  none  of  us  can  live  to 
himself,  and  what  we  do  sets  the  pace  for  others. 
A  temptation  easily  yielded  to  by  people  who 
have  perhaps  been  out  of  school  for  years,  or  are 
not  naturally  fond  of  the  acquisition  of  language, 
is  to  imagine  that  when  they  have  completed  the 
course  of  language  study  prescribed  by  the  mis- 
sion, their  labors  in  that  direction  are  ended. 
Some  have  acted  on  this  belief,  and  the  result  is 
the  very  plain  line  of  demarcation  which  as  time 
passes  on  may  be  observed  among  missionaries. 
To  keep  on  the  upper  side  of  that  line  is  a 
resolve  that  ought  to  be  made  early  and  adhered 
to  tenaciously  throughout  a  missionary's  career. 
The  new  missionary  should  always  keep  an  ear 
open  for  new  words  and  expressions  used  in  con- 
versation, and,  if  possible,  he  should  set  apart  a 
few  moments  each  day  for  reading  in  the  native 
language.  By  adding  to  our  vocabulary  a  word 
or  an  expression  at  a  time,  day  after  day  and 
year  after  year,   we  may  fit  ourselves  for  the 

[28] 


MISSIONARY   TEMPTATIONS 

highest  and  best  forms  of  service  that  may  pre- 
sent themselves  Id  any  direction.  Even  married 
women  with  little  children,  given  a  fixed  deter- 
mination sooner  or  later  to  acquire  the  language, 
can  accomplish  much  in  this  way.  I  know  a 
missionary  who  reached  the  field  with  several 
small  children.  Other  little  ones  came  to  her 
and  her  health  was  never  robust,  yet  little  by 
little  she  added  to  her  knowledge  of  the  language, 
and  by  and  by  when  her  children  grew  older  and 
her  time  and  strength  were  hers  once  more,  she 
was  able  to  take  her  place  as  teacher  in  the  Bible 
training  class  work  of  the  station.  "I'mgoiug 
to  learn  this  language  if  it  takes  me  a  hundred 
years,"  a  missionary  mother  announced  not  long 
ago,  and  those  of  us  who  know  her  have  no  doubt 
that  she  will. 

Man  or  woman,  married  or  single,  here  is  the 
place  for  ambition  !  N^ot  to  surpass  others,  not 
with  the  secret  hope  of  being  considered  one  of 
the  best  linguists  in  the  mission,  nor  with  any 
trace  of  resentment  toward  those  who  may  be 
outstripping  us  in  the  race,  but  with  the  stead- 
fast resolve  that  with  God  for  our  helper,  we  will 
as  far  as  in  us  lies  glorify  him  in  the  free  and 
skillful  use  of  the  strange  language  which  has  now 
become  ours.  It  is  a  pity  to  be  satisfied  with 
mediocrity  of  effort,  and  nowhere  so  much  as  on 
the  mission  field.  The  plane  of  our  attainment 
may  never  be  so  high  as  that  of  some  others,  but 

[29] 


INSIDE   VIEWS   OF   MISSION    LIFE 

we  ought  to  see  to  it  that  it  is  the  best  of  which 
we  are  capable. 

Sometimes  we  fail  to  realize  the  fact  that  with 
the  task  ou  hand  of  learuiug  a  uew  language,  it 
will  be  necessary  to  relinquish  the  delights  of  om- 
nivorous reading  in  English.  While  it  may  not 
be  advisable  in  every  case  to  follow  the  Spartan 
example  of  Dr.  Nevius  of  China,  who  for  the  first 
ten  years  of  his  missionary  career  read  nothing 
in  English  except  commentaries  or  other  theo- 
logical works,  yet  it  is  greatly  to  our  advantage 
to  restrict  our  reading  in  English  to  just  the 
amount  necessary  to  keep  us  in  good  mental 
tone.  Anything  beyond  this  will  serve  to  draw 
us  away  from  the  language  which  we  are  striving 
to  learn,  and  ought  to  be  reckoned  as  an  unlawful 
indulgence.  Of  course,  as  far  as  our  home  boards 
and  committees  are  concerned,  we  are  put  on  our 
honor  with  regard  to  the  use  of  our  time.  There 
is  no  rule  or  by-law  to  prevent  us  from  keeping 
ourselves  supplied  with  the  latest  output  of  light 
literature  from  home,  or  even  carrying  on  actual 
courses  of  study  in  English,  as  has  been  attempted 
in  some  cases,  but  there  is  a  great  deal  about  such 
a  procedure  to  prevent  us  from  ever  becoming 
anything  but  mediocre  missionaries. 

When  we  first  reach  heathendom  and  find  our- 
selves confronted  by  millions  of  people  without 
God  and  without  hope  in  the  world,  few  or  no 
Christian  schools,  little  or  no  Christian  literature, 
[30] 


MISSIONARY   TEMPTATIONS 

practiciDg  filtbj^  and  barbarous  methods  of  medi- 
cine, and  with  the  only  hope,  humanly  speaking, 
for  the  amelioration  of  these  conditions  resting 
with  a  handful  of  missionaries,  we  may  be 
tempted  to  forget  that  "he  who  believeth  doth 
not  make  haste."  This  may  lead  us  into  impa- 
tience with  the  slow  process  of  language  acqui- 
sition. We  want  to  '^get  to  work,"  and  we  find 
ourselves  before  we  realize  it  in  a  state  of  mental 
hurry  and  worry,  and  carrying  around  with  us 
a  continual  sense  of  guilt  because  we  feel  that  we 
have  not  accomplished  all  that  we  should  have 
done. 

This  is  not  conducive  either  to  mental  or  spir- 
itual health,  and  is  easily  followed  by  a  disposi- 
tion to  be  fussy  about  our  physical  condition.  In 
the  face  of  the  great  need,  missionaries  begin  to 
look  so  valuable  and  so  scarce  that  we  fear  we 
may  not  hold  out  long  enough  to  accomplish 
some  of  the  things  we  know  ought  to  be  done. 
We  begin  to  wonder  if  our  head,  our  stomach 
or  our  temperature  are  just  what  they  ought  to 
be,  and  we  talk  vaguely  about  "overworking'^ 
and  "breaking  down." 

A  good  cure  is  to  remember  that  our  service  is 
not  for  a  month  or  a  year,  but — if  God  wills — for 
life,  and  also  that  while  we  may  be  and  ought  to 
be  very  desirous  of  helping  in  his  work,  yet  we 
are  not  really  indispensable  to  the  carrying  out 
of  his  purposes.  He  will  have  his  way  with  men 
[31] 


INSIDE   VIEWS   OF   MISSION   LIFE 

aud  uations,  not  always  because  of  us,  but  very 
often  Id  spite  of  us,  aud  wbat  coucerus  biiu 
most  iu  your  case  aud  mine  is  not  nearly  so  mucb 
wbat  we  do  as  wbat  we  are.  Once  grasp  tbe 
trutb  tbat  tbe  tbiug  of  most  importance  is  not  to 
"serve  God  mucb"  but  to  "please  bim  per- 
fectly," and  tbat  otber  blessed  fact  tbat  "in 
quietness  and  in  confidence  is  our  strengtb,'^  aud 
we  will  find  tbat  tbe  joy  of  tbe  Lord  waits  on  our 
footsteps,  aud  tbat  our  power  for  effective  service 
is  increased  tenfold. 

A  trip  bome  wben  our  furlougb  comes  is  good 
for  us  in  tbis  directiou.  Wben  we  see  tbe  mad 
and  furious  rate  at  which  our  friends  and  rela- 
tives, who  are  eugaged  in  business,  live  and  work, 
we  will  realize  tbat  while  we  have  beeu  busy  as 
missionaries,  and  hope  to  continue  to  be  busy, 
yet  it  has  not  been  beyond  a  sane  degree. 

One  tbiug  tbat  we  have  to  learn  after  we  reach 
tbe  field  is  tbat,  in  some  important  respects,  life  in 
a  mission  station  is  mucb  like  matrimony.  The 
narrow  circle  in  which  our  days  are  spent  in  the 
course  of  time  brings  us  and  our  fellow  workers  to 
a  degree  of  mutual  acquaintance  which  we  have 
probably  never  experienced  before  with  anyone. 
Not  only  every  excellency  aud  idiosyncrasy  of 
character,  but  every  little  trick  of  mind,  every 
crook  of  conscience  which  each  one  possesses,  be- 
comes perfectly  well  known  to  every  other  one. 
We  and  tbe  otber  men  and  women  of  our  station 

[32] 


MISSIONARY   TEMPTATIONS 

will  have  to  walk  along  from  day  to  day  *'  bear- 
ing tlie  dear  burden  of  each  other's  infirmities.'' 
This  excellent  rule  for  a  happy  married  life  is  no 
less  applicable  in  a  mission  station  :  Devote  your- 
self to  curing  your  own  faults  and  to  making  the 
other  happy,  and  by  no  means  confuse  these  two 
things  by  attempting  to  be  happy  yourself  and 
curing  the  faults  of  the  other. 

I  know  of  no  spot  on  earth  where  the  same 
close  fellowship,  the  same  loving  community  of 
interest  exists  as  in  the  mission  field.  Yet  this 
precious  ointment  may  have  its  flies,  and  there 
are  little  foxes  ever  ready  to  spoil  the  vines. 
The  very  intimacy  which  is  often  so  sweet  may 
lead  to  friction  between  natuies  of  an  opposite 
mold.  A  missionary  whom  I  knew  found  herself 
at  close  quarters  with  a  nature  which  was  to  hers 
as  fire  is  to  tow.  The  shameful  possibility  of 
actually  quarreling  with  a  fellow  worker  yawned 
at  her  feet.  Feeling  entirely  helpless  in  herself, 
she  threw  herself  on  her  knees  in  an  agony  of 
prayer  that  God  would  keep  her  from  anything 
so  dishonoring  to  him  and  his  cause.  He  heard 
and  answered,  and  from  that  moment,  although 
the  two  continued  to  work  together  in  the  same 
station  for  some  time,  she  never  afterwards  felt 
any  stirrings  of  antagonism. 

A  community,  otherwise  congenial  and  happy, 
may  find  itself  burdened  with  just  one  foolishly 
sensitive,  hysterical  woman,  unable  to  view  any 
[33] 


INSIDE   VIEWS   OF   MISSION    LIFE 

subject  apart  from  the  standpoint  of  self,  or  a 
single  ill-tempered,  unreasonable,  overbearing 
man.  What  shall  we  do  in  such  a  ease  ?  Except 
for  actual  moral  lapses,  missionaries  are  slow  to 
make  ill  rej)orts  to  headquarters  of  a  fellow 
worker.  I  know  of  nothing  that  meets  the  case 
so  well  as  to  set  about  the  earnest  cultivation  of 
those  graces  in  ourselves  which  we  would  like  to 
see  in  the  troublesome  sister  or  brother,  the  love, 
joy,  peace,  long-suffering,  goodness,  gentleness, 
faith,  meekness  and  temperance,  which  alone  can 
make  them  or  us  beloved  or  useful.  It  is  a  good 
thing  to  call  a  halt  at  regular  intervals  and  ask 
ourselves  :  "Have  I  little  ways  that  are  likely  to 
be  a  trial  to  my  fellow  workers'?  Am  I  given  to 
bursts  of  temper  or  other  forms  of  impatience? 
or  am  I  cold  and  unaccommodating?  Am  I  self- 
ish, or  given  to  underhanded  ways  of  accomplish- 
ing ni}^  purposes,  ways  not  very  wrong  perhaps, 
yet  not  exactly  straight !  Am  I  overbearing,  or 
inclined  to  hold  grudges  ?  Am  I  always  willing 
to  give  place  to  others,  or  do  I  often  claim  and 
take  the  foremost  place  for  myself,  and  sulk  if  I 
do  not  get  it?"  These  and  other  forms  of  self- 
interrogation  which  our  own  consciences  can 
suggest,  together  with  the  maintenance  of  a 
constant  state  of  watchfulness  and  prayer,  ought 
to  keep  our  feet  from  slipping. 

But  there  is  one  thing  to  be  taken  into  grave 
and  earnest  consideration  :   that  God   will  not 

[34] 


MISSIONARY   TEMPTATIONS 

answer  our  prayers  for  these  thiDgs,  or  j)our  out 
upon  us  the  full  measure  of  his  loving  spirit  that 
we  crave,  as  long  as  we  indulge  the  habit  of  criti- 
cizing each  other,  discussing  the  faults  of  other 
people,  the  mistakes  w^e  have  known  them  to 
make,  turning  their  peculiarities  over  and  over 
until  they  assume  a  magnitude  in  our  minds 
altogether  out  of  proportion  to  their  real  impor- 
tance. It  is  better  not  to  do  this,  even  with  the 
other  inmates  of  our  homes.  Our  conversation 
may  not  be  as  interesting  to  some  people,  but  it 
will  be  more  pleasing  to  God,  and  we  cannot 
exhibit  to  the  other  members  of  our  station  better 
evidence  that  we  have  been  well  brought  uj)  than 
by  preserving  what  some  one  has  called  "the 
very  hall  mark  of  good  breeding— a  noble  silence 
concerning  the  faults  of  others."  The  failure  to 
do  this  on  the  part  of  just  one  member  of  the 
missionary  body,  especially  if  situated  at  a  port 
or  capital  city  where  many  come  and  go,  may 
bring  a  whole  body  of  mission  workers  into  dis- 
repute. Or  a  missionary  visiting  in  another  field 
may  make  up  his  conversation  of  the  eccentricities, 
disagreeable  qualities  or  moral  lapses  of  his  fellow 
workers  until  the  only  conclusion  left  to  the  lis- 
tener is  that  they  must  all  be  a  very  peculiar  and 
undesirable  lot.  Alas  that  these  things  should 
ever  be  so  ! 

When  topics  of  conversation  fail  we  can  have 
recourse  to  literary  periodicals,  or  any  one  of  a 

[35] 


INSIDE  VIEWS   OF   MISSION   LIFE 

dozen  fiist-class  magazines.  We  can  lay  aside 
our  work  for  a  few  moments  before  dinner  and 
glean  something  from  their  pages  to  talk  about. 
Let  us  not  give  way  to  the  feeliug  that  this  is  a 
stiff  and  stilted  way  of  doing,  and  that  we  should 
feel  more  at  home  with  personalities.  Such  a 
practice  will  not  only  keep  us  off  the  low  level  of 
j)ersonal  gossip,  but  will  bring  us  breadth  of  mind 
and  interests,  and  skill  in  the  art  of  conversation, 
so  that  when  we  emerge  once  more  into  the  glare 
and  rush  of  Western  life,  we  will  find  that  we 
have  kept  within  very  gratifying  touch  of  current 
events. 

Sometimes  missionaries  find  themselves  within 
easy  reach  of  good  financial  investments  on  the 
field.  Their  children  are  growing  up  and  the 
problem  of  their  education  must  be  met.  They 
are  getting  on  in  years,  perhaps,  with  little  or  no 
life  insurance.  Xo  one  faces  the  prospect  of 
penniless  old  age  with  real  enjoyment.  The  op- 
portunities are  legitimate  from  a  business  stand- 
point and  the  investment  of  private  means  or 
small  savings  seems  so  harmless  and  justifiable. 
Shall  we  or  shall  we  not? 

It  may  help  us  to  come  to  a  decision  in  a  matter 
like  this  to  notice  the  stand  taken  by  other  people 
in  other  callings.  When  the  Coast  and  Geodetic 
Surveying  Party  sent  out  by  the  Government 
reached  the  Klondike  region  they  found  the 
country  underlaid  with  vast  deposits  of  gold.     It 

[36] 


MISSIONARY   TEMPTATIONS 

lay  within  tlieir  power,  without  transgressing 
the  law  of  the  land,  to  stake  out  their  claims 
and  make  themselves  rich  beyond  the  dreams 
of  avarice.  Yet  not  one  foot  was  appropriated 
by  one  member  of  the  party  for  his  personal 
benefit. 

When  Mr.  Moore,  of  the  United  States  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture,  discovered  the  ^'nitrogen-fix- 
ing bacteria,"  he  conferred  an  incalculable  benefit 
upon  the  farming  interests  of  the  country,  and 
there  was  no  reason  from  a  business  standpoint 
why  the  discovery  should  not  have  made  him  a 
very  wealthy  man.  But  he  kept  on  at  his  work 
of  patient  investigation  for  the  public  benefit, 
without  any  effort  to  appropriate  the  wealth  that 
might  have  been  his. 

Horace  Mann,  always  financially  hard  pressed, 
when  reproached  by  a  friend  for  letting  a  good 
business  opportunity  pass  by,  replied  that  he  was 
*'too  busy  to  make  money." 

Such  instances  of  high  honor  in  public  servants 
are  not  uncommon.  Members  of  what  we  love 
to  regard  as  a  ''sacred  calling"  can  hardly  do 
less.  No  non-Christian  people  has  any  concep- 
tion of  pure  disinterestedness,  and  the  very  first 
requisite  for  successful  service  is  to  establish  the 
fact  in  their  minds  that  we  are  here  for  their 
good  alone.  It  is  absolutely  necessary  for  the 
foreign  missionary  to  avoid  all  suspicion  of  ex- 
ploiting the  people  or  the  country  for  his  own 
[37] 


INSIDE   VIEWS   OF   MISSION   LIFE 

personal  benefit.  Let  the  belief  be  once  firmly- 
established  in  the  minds  of  the  people  that  he  is 
making  money  at  their  expense,  or  at  the  expense 
of  the  natural  resources  of  the  country,  and  from 
the  standpoint  of  the  missionary,  he  has  become 
a  mere  cumberer  of  the  ground.  If  we  have  pri- 
vate means  to  invest  it  is  better  to  do  so  in 
the  homeland  where  no  misunderstanding  is 
likely  to  arise.  And  as  to  the  need  of  food  and 
clothing  in  our  old  age,  we  have  the  Saviour's 
personal  assurance  that  if  we  seek  first  the  king- 
dom of  God  and  his  righteousness,  all  these  things 
shall  be  added  unto  us.  That  is  a  good  pillow 
for  the  silvering  head  to  lie  upon. 

All  this  does  not  mean  that  we  are  not  to  ex- 
ercise as  far  as  possible  a  wise  forethought  as  to 
the  future  needs  of  our  work.  It  is  said  that 
Adoniram  Judson  during  his  lifetime  purchased 
for  the  mission  a  tract  of  land,  not  needed  for 
immediate  use,  but  necessary,  in  his  mind,  for 
the  future  growth  of  the  work.  After  his  death 
the  home  authorities,  stung,  possibly,  by  the 
epithet  "landgrabbers,"  applied  by  unfriendly 
travelers,  ordered  the  sale  of  the  land.  But  time 
proved  Judson' s  faith  and  sagacitj^,  and  the 
mission  has  since  been  obliged  to  buy  back,  piece 
by  piece,  and  at  greatly  advanced  prices,  the 
land  that  once  was  theirs. 

As  one  decade  after  another  rolls  over  our 
heads  on  the  mission  field,   we  find  ourselves 

[38] 


MISSIONARY   TEMPTATIONS 

confronted  by  a  very  real  danger,  that  of  arrested 
development.     Years   ago,   out  of  a  variety  of 
possible  methods  of  work,  we  selected  those  that 
approved  themselves  to  our  judgment.     Practice 
has  made  us  facile  in  their  use,  and  we  fall  into 
the  habit  of  attributing  any  measure  of  success 
that  may  have  attended  our  efforts  to  these  par- 
ticular methods.     Little  by  little  they  assume  in 
our  minds  almost  fetichlike  proportions.    Times 
change,    and  what  were  once  entirely  suitable 
principles  of  procedure  are  no  longer  adequate 
to  meet  the  situation.     Newer,  larger,  more  up- 
to-date  methods  are  called  for,  but  we  find  our- 
selves a  little  resentful  and  unwilling  to  respond. 
In  short,  the  process  of  ossification  has  set  in, 
and  prompt  action  is  required  or  we  will  take  our 
place  in  the  ranks  of  the  has-beens.     Dr.  Arthur 
J.  Brown  says:    "God  does  not  need  our  meth- 
ods.    .     .     .     Let   us   be   ready  to    adjust  our 
methods  from  time  to  time,  as  God  in  his  provi- 
dence may  direct."     Dr.    S.    E.    Millard,    long 
Chicago's  oldest  physician,   on  the  occasion  of 
his  ninety-second  birthday,  said  that  one  reason 
he  had  lived  so  long  and  so  happily  was  because 
he  had  "always  tried  to  keep  alive  to  the  things 
of  the  present." 

The  infusion  of    new  missionary  blood  from 

time  to  time  is  a  great  boon  to  the  whole  mission 

body.     If  the  younger  workers  have  much  to 

gain  from  their  elders,  the  reverse  is  also  true, 

[39] 


INSIDE   VIEWS   OF    MISSION    LIFE 

and  it  is  a  good  thing  for  all  coucerued  if  we  can 
ever  keep  ourselves  in  the  position  of  being  will- 
ing to  learn  from  those  younger  and  less  exx^eri- 
enced  than  ourselves. 


[40] 


CHAPTER  II 

MISSIONARY  TRIALS 

"Please  tell  me -frankly, "  once  urged  the 
anxious  mother  of  a  young  missionary  candidate, 
"what  the  experiences  are  of  heavy  trial  and 
privation  that  you  missionaries  hide  behind  such 
a  brave  show  of  cheerfulness.'^  If  the  mission- 
ary appealed  to  had  been  up  in  modern  slang, 
she  might  have  replied,  "You  can  search  me." 
Almost  in  vain  she  explored  the  inner  recesses 
of  her  consciousness  for  some  experience  of  hard- 
ship or  creature  discomforts  that  could  be  styled 
peculiarly  "  missionary. "  There  had  been  things 
hard  to  bear,  but  very  little  which  she  had  not 
shared  in  common  with  the  professional  traveler, 
the  gold-seeker,  or  the  members  of  business  and 
political  circles  who  elect  to  pass  their  lives  in 
the  remote  regions  of  the  earth.  Under  this 
head  comes  the  leaving  of  one's  native  land, 
long  separations  from  friends  and  relatives,  irreg- 
ular mails,  coming  in  contact  with  contagious 
diseases  of  every  kind,  the  discomforts  of  travel 
in  countries  where  there  are  no  roads,  no  bridges, 
uo  hotels  that  our  friends  would  recognize  by 
[41] 


INSIDE  VIEWS   OF   MISSION    LIFE 

that  name,  aud  no  wheeled  conveyances  of  any 
kind. 

To  be  far  from  one's  base  of  supi^Iies  is  not 
always  convenient.  To  have  to  eat  butter,  for 
instance,  which  has  been  canned  or  in  pickle  for 
an  indefinite  length  of  time,  and  to  order  one's 
hats  by  mail  from  an  export  firm  in  America,  is 
trying.  Yet  the  butter  is  good,  when  once  you 
acquire  a  taste  for  it,  and  the  hats — well,  they 
are  often  quite  passable  in  the  absence  of  any 
very  high  standard  of  comparison,  and  the  worst 
of  them  are  hardly  ever  as  bad  as  they  might  be. 
Even  then  they  answer  a  useful  purpose  in  keep- 
ing us  humble  as  long  as  they  last,  which,  with 
care,  may  be  a  good  many  years.  Sometimes  all 
the  women  of  a  station  have  to  be  assembled  to 
sit  in  judgment  on  a  hat  recently  arrived  from 
America,  in  order  to  decide  which  side  is  the 
front.  It  may  be  that  some  of  us  will  never 
know  whether  hats  which  we  have  worn  with 
cheerful  unconsciousness  year  after  year  were  not 
really  hindside  before  all  the  time  ! 

Once — a  golden  once — a  missionary  arrived  at 
a  certain  station  with  the  instincts  of  the  milliner 
born,  and  of  the  philanthropist  as  well.  She  at- 
tended the  usual  church  service  in  English,  held 
every  Sunday  afternoon,  and  one  sweepiug  glance 
around  convinced  her  that  she  need  not  wait  to 
acquire  the  language  before  doing  some  mission- 
ary work.     Gently  but  firmly  she  secured  pos- 

[42] 


MISSIONARY  TRIALS 

session  of  one  venerable  piece  of  headgear  after 
another,  and  when  these  emerged  from  her  hands 
they  were  left  with  so  few  recognizable  features 
that  it  seemed  something  like  a  sleight-of-hand 
performance.  Church  attendance  almost  reached 
the  pitch  of  a  mild  excitement  to  see  what  new 
marvel  had  been  wrought. 

Perhaps  these  things  might  be  more  properly 
told  in  the  chapter  on  missionary  diversions,  for 
no  one  enjoys  the  comicalities  of  mission  life 
so  much  as  the  missionaries  themselves.     The 

X 's  love  to  tell  of  their  first  trip  home  on 

furlough.     The  traveling  suits  of  Mrs.  X and 

the  children  represented  the  combined  skill  and 
ingenuity  of  the  ladies  of  the  station,  but  when 
they  made  their  appearance  in  a  large  railway 
station  in  America,  they  were  aware  of  a  momen- 
tary suspension  of  business,  and  a  sudden  access 
of  suppressed  hilarity  in  the  air.  Finally  a  scrub- 
woman at  work  on  the  floor  voiced  the  thought 
of  all  hearts  when  she  asked,  ''  Whur^d  you  come 
frum  ?  " 

But  while  we  get  all  the  fun  we  can  out  of  such 
occurrences,  we  do  not  want  them  to  happen  if 
they  can  be  avoided.  The  matter  of  dress  and 
appearance  is  not  so  trivial  as  it  sometimes  seems 
to  us  in  the  first  heat  of  the  struggle  with  heathen- 
ism. A  story  is  told  of  a  graduate  of  Dr.  Guin- 
ness' Missionary  Training  School  in  London  who 
called  on  Mrs.  Guinness  for  a  parting  word  before 

[43] 


INSIDE   VIEWS   OF   MISSION   LIFE 

starting  for  Africa.  He  had  expected  words  of 
deep  spiritual  counsel,  and  it  was  with  somethiug 
of  a  shock  that  he  heard  her  say,  ' '  I  hope  that 
you  will  always  be  particular  to  keep  your  hair 
brushed."  She  had  lived  long  enough  to  observe 
that  a  proper  attention  to  the  details  of  personal 
appearance  not  only  commands  the  respect  of 
other  people,  but  is  formative  of  right  character 
in  the  individual  himself.  In  the  homeland  most 
of  us  have  probably  dressed  for  people.  On  the 
mission  field  we  have  the  opportunity  to  dress 
from  principle.  Xot  that  we  can  attempt  to  keep 
up  with  the  latest  vagaries  of  fashion.  To  be 
within  far  hailing  distance  of  the  ever  changing 
dame  must  satisfy  most  of  us.  But  at  least  we 
can  keep  well  trimmed  and  brushed  and  blacked, 
and  we  can  make  it  a  principle  to  dress  up  always 
for  Sunday  or  any  other  occasion  that  can  be 
made  to  present  itself,  and  thus  keep  ourselves 
feeling  at  home  in  our  good  clothes. 

The  people  are  sometimes  more  observant  than 
we  imagine  of  our  attire  and  the  degree  of  respect 
which  it  indicates  for  them.  I  once  made  a  trip 
iuto  the  country  to  a  village  where  no  foreign 
woman  had  ever  stayed  before.  In  anticipation 
of  sitting  and  sleeping  on  the  floor  and  eating  on 
my  lap,  I  wore  an  old  dress  which  I  felt  willing 
to  sacrifice.  But  the  very  first  question  put  to 
my  Bible  woman  when  we  reached  the  place  and 
found  ourselves  surrounded  by  a  group  of  eager 

[44] 


MISSIONARY   TRIALS 

womeu  and  girls,  was,  ''  Did  she  put  on  her  good 
clothes  to  come  and  see  us  !  " 

We  never  know  until  we  take  up  life  in  a  non- 
Christian  land  how  much  we  have  been  upheld 
heretofore,  in  mind  and  spirit,  by  public  la^ 
order  and  decency.  Even  in  the  matter  of  exter- 
nal comeliness,  the  system  and  orderliness  pre- 
vailing everywhere,  and  the  beauty  in  common 
things  has  meant  much,  to  us.  Streets  laid  out  on 
the  square,  public  buildings  of  noble  and  dignified 
proportions,  flower  beds,  gardens  and  farms  ar- 
ranged with  regard  to  symmetry,  even  the  pretty 
displays  in  the  shop  windows,  have  all  ministerea 
to  our  aesthetic  sense  and  kept  us  in  good  menial 
tone.  It  is  true  that  in  some  mission  countries 
there  is  much  to  gratify  one's  sense  of  truth  and 
beauty,  but,  as  a  rule,  in  Christless  lands,  any- 
thing that  there  may  be  of  moral  grace  or  ma- 
terial loveliness  is  rudely  jostled  on  all  sides 
by  a  meanness  and  squalor  that  beggars  de- 
scription. 

The  effect  upon  the  newcomer  is  often  a  heavi- 
ness of  mind  and  heart  that  is  hard  to  throw  off, 
but  here,  as  elsewhere,  ^^the  mind  is  its  own 
place."  No  true  missionary  allows  his  or  her 
thought  to  dwell  on  what  there  may  be  of  ugliness 
in  or  about  their  chosen  people.  Even  if  we  can- 
not follow  the  first  part  of  Alice  Freeman  Palmer's 
counsel  to  * '  look  at  something  beautiful  each  day ' ' 
(and  there  are  few  spots  on  earth  where  even  this 
[45] 


INSIDE  VIEWS   OF   MISSION    LIFE 

is  altogether  imi)ossible),  yet  the  last  part,  to 
"think  of,  do  and  laemorize  something  beautiful 
each  day,"  is  open  to  all  of  us.  Eufus  Choate  is 
said  to  have  been  possessed  all  his  life  with  a  sort 
of  poetic  elation  of  soul  which  lifted  him  above 
outward  adverse  circumstances.  Substitute  the 
word  "spiritual"  for  "poetic"  and  we  have 
something  that  all  can  cultivate.  Perhaps  it  is 
only  another  name  for  faith,  that  faith  which 
dwells  in  "  the  high  and  holy  place"  with  God, 
and  provides  its  possessor  with  wings  for  each 
day's  journey. 

With  regard  to  unhygienic  conditions  which 
cannot  be  avoided,  the  advice,  "  Keep  your  mind 
off  them,"  applies  with  special  force.  In  a 
country  like  Korea  where  the  rooms  are  very 
small,  with  no  provision  for  ventilation,  the 
missionaries  are  often  obliged  to  spend  hours  of 
their  time  crowded  in  with  a  multitude  of  un- 
washed human  beings  in  an  atmosphere  so  vile 
that  the  very  candles  threaten  to  go  out,  and  are 
only  revived  from  time  to  time  as  the  door  is 
opened  to  admit  newcomers.  It  is  easy  to  ask, 
"Why  don't  you  throw  every  door  and  window 
open  and  get  fresh  air!  "  The  probabilities  are 
that  the  windows  are  of  paper  and  immovable. 
The  door,  or  doors,  if  there  happens  to  be  more  than 
one,  is  very  small,  perhaps  a  foot  and  a  half  wide  by 
four  or  five  feet  high,  and  if  it  is  open  everyone 
in  the  room  is  exposed  to  the  outside  temperature, 
[46] 


MISSIONARY   TRIALS 

whicli  may  be  all  the  way  from  freezing  down  to 
twenty-six  below  zero. 

How  unfortunate  under  such  circumstances  to 
allow  one's  mind  to  dwell  on  the  subject  of  noxious 
germs!  AH  that  one  can  do  is  to  dismiss  the 
tliought  with  the  reflection  that  the  same  God 
who  made  them  is  able  to  control  their  action. 
Livingstone  found  strength  in  the  assurance  that 
we  are  all  immortal  till  our  work  is  done,  and  so 
can  we. 

Some  mortifying  revelations  await  man}'  of  us 
upon  reaching  the  field.  We  find  that  we  have 
heretofore  depended  largely  for  spiritual  inspira- 
tion upon  church  services  and  religious  gather- 
ings of  all  kinds,  and  that  what  we  have  been 
accustomed  to  consider  the  joy  of  the  Lord  as 
experienced  by  us  has,  in  reality,  consisted 
largely  in  the  iusi^iration  of  numbers,  or  in  self- 
satisfaction  based  on  the  successful  exercise  of  our 
natural  powers,  and  on  the  approval  of  admiring 
friends.  In  short,  we  find  that  we  have  not  had 
much  i^ersonal  acquaintance  with  the  Saviour. 

The  mission  field  has  no  lesson  for  us  so  ineffably 
sweet  and  precious  as  that  of  drawing  strength 
and  inspiration  directly  from  the  Master  himself. 
We  learn  what  it  is  to  work  away  from  day  to 
day  and  month  to  month  and  year  to  year,  un- 
known and  unpraised  of  men,  and  yet  more  than 
rewarded  by  the  thought  of  that  time  when  "  every 
man  shall  have  praise  of  God." 
[47] 


INSIDE  VIEWS   OF  MISSION   LIFE 

At  the  same  time  let  uothiog  mislead  us  into 
forsakiDg  the  assembling  of  ourselves  together 
for  the  purpose  of  prayer  aud  praise  in  our  own 
language.  The  whole  history  of  missions  presents 
no  more  noble  picture  than  that  of  Judson  and 
his  wife  sitting  down  alone  to  celebrate  the  Lord's 
Supper.  We  ought  never  to  fall  in  with  the  idea 
that  the  native  services  take  the  place  of  our  own 
more  formal  worship.  We  will  probably  be  a 
good  many  years  on  the  field  before  this  is  the 
case,  if  it  ever  is,  and  even  if  it  is  true  of  those 
longer  on  the  field,  it  will  not  be  of  those  who 
have  come  out  more  recently.  Fellow  mission- 
aries, as  long  as  they  live  and  work  together,  will 
need  to  get  down  on  their  knees  at  regular  inter- 
vals, and  make  humble  confession  of  sins  and 
weaknesses  and  shortcomings,  and  raise  earnest 
prayer  together  for  forgiveness  and  strength.  It 
is  to  the  inner  workings  of  any  station  or  mission 
community  what  the  drop  of  oil  is  to  the  piece  of 
machinery.  That  mission  community  is  blessed 
where  the  homes  are  sufficiently  close  togetlier  to 
admit  of  a  brief  daily  prayer  meeting. 

Undoubtedly  one  of  the  great  trials  that  we 
have  to  bear  for  the  first  few  years  of  mission  life 
is  enforced  inactivity  to  a  greater  or  less  extent 
in  the  direction  of  mission  work.  Long  weeks, 
months  and  years  of  language  study  must  inter- 
vene before  we  can  do  with  any  ease  the  things 
that  we  came  out  to  do.     Our  pent-up  energies 

[48] 


MISSIONARY  TRIALS 

look  about  in  vain  for  sufficieut  outlet,  aud  for 
lack  of  soinetliing  larger  we  are  likely  to  aj)ply 
ourselves  to  trifles  with  the  same  streuuousuess 
that  we  would  employ  iu  orgauiziiig  churches  or 
carrying  on  schools  or  Bible  classes  if  we  could. 
The  result  may  easily  be  a  sort  of  bumptiousness 
or  self-assertiveuess  on  our  part  which  may  not 
be  altogether  pleasant  to  others.  Or  a  worse 
thiDg  may  befall  us.  We  may  drop  so  easily  into 
the  student^s  habit  that  the  active  things  of  life 
have  no  longer  any  charm  for  us.  A  sort  of 
spiritual  numbness  possesses  us,  and  processions 
of  lost  souls  pass  aud  repass  before  us  without 
awakening  any  special  concern. 

No  one  can  safely  minimize  the  necessity  for 
acquiring  the  language.  Yet  a  greater  mistake, 
if  possible,  is  to  imagine  that  no  missionary  work 
can  be  done  in  the  meantime.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  the  acquisition  of  an  oriental  language  is 
the  task  of  a  lifetime,  and  any  missionary  work 
that  we  do  must  be  a  siDiultaneous  process  from 
first  to  last.  It  is  not  altogether  easy  to  begin 
without  language,  yet,  with  a  very  few  words  at 
command,  one  can  distribute  tracts,  do  street 
preaching  to  individuals,  or  gather  up  children 
and  teach  them  Bible  verses  and  prayers.  From 
the  very  standpoint  of  language  acquisition  the 
process  is  a  useful  one,  for  it  affords  an  opportunity 
for  using  the  words  which  we  have  learned,  and 
— what  is  fully  as  important — of  becoming  ac- 
[49] 


INSIDE   VIEWS   OF   MISSION    LIFE 

quainted  with  native  character  by  actual  contact 
with  it.  Moreover,  by  the  watering  of  other 
souls  our  own  are  refreshed  and  spiritual  drought 
is  averted. 

Two  very  real  trials  may  be  enumerated,  one 
of  which  is  peculiar  to  the  early  years  of  mission 
life,  and  more  particularly  to  single  i)eople.  I 
refer  to  loneliness  and  lack  of  diversion.  Hardly 
any  phase  of  life  which  a  young  man  or  woman 
can  have  experienced  in  the  homeland  can  pre- 
pare them  altogether  for  the  weight  of  loneliness 
that  is  likely  to  fall  to  their  lot  in  a  heathen 
country.  The  fact  that  they  are  single  puts  them 
in  an  anomalous  class  and  isolates  them  greatly 
in  the  estimation  of  the  people.  Unless  they  are 
exceptionally  situated  they  will  have  little  com- 
panioushi]3  of  those  of  their  own  years,  and  very 
little  change  of  mental  occupation. 

Loneliness  has  its  own  peculiar  trials  and 
temptations,  as  Martin  Luther  and  all  other 
honest  monks  of  all  times  have  found.  It  is 
hard  for  anyone,  married  or  single,  who  lives 
alone  or  with  only  a  few  companions  of  his  own 
race,  to  maintain  an  absolutely  sane  view  of  all 
questions.  We  lose  our  seuse  of  proportion  and 
are  tempted  to  feel  a  foolish  sensitiveness  to  the 
words  and  acts  of  others.  A  story  is  told  of  a 
missionary  in  Africa  who  threw  up  his  job  and 
went  home,  on  being  reproved  by  a  fellow  worker 
for  leaving  an  ax  out  over  night.     He  bad  lived 

[50] 


MISSIONARY   TRIALS 

in  a  narrow  circle  of  thought  and  companionship 
until  he  was  no  longer  able  to  distinguish  between 
things  of  great  and  little  importance.  Irritabil- 
ity, resentment  and  passion  followed  in  logical 
sequence,  and  the  matter  of  the  ax  was  doubtless 
the  last  addition  to  a  long  and  melancholy  series 
of  grudges. 

It  is  a  thankworthy  thing  if  single  missionaries 
find  themselves  situated  with  a  congenial  work- 
ing mate  of  their  own  sex.  Two  by  two  was  the 
Master's  rule,  and  it  is  still  a  good  rule.  There 
are  ways,  too,  of  cultivating  the  Saviour^s  com- 
panionship that  reijay  us  more  richly  than  tongue 
can  tell.  One  dear  woman  whom  I  know,  whose 
post  of  duty  is  lonely  and  hard,  has  a  way  of 
holding  audible  converse  with  her  Lord  as  she 
goes  about  her  work.  "This  isn't  an  easy  task 
you  have  set  me,  Lord,"  she  will  say,  '^but  I 
trust  you  to  sustain  me."  One  man,  who  longed 
greatly  for  a  more  real  sense  of  the  Saviour's 
presence,  used  to  draw  up  a  chair  for  him  when 
he  knelt  to  pray.  These  things  may  seem  a  little 
grotesque  to  people  whose  lives  are  full  of  close 
and  happy  human  companionship,  but  the  story 
of  Brother  Lawrence  has  taught  us  that  anything 
is  lawful  that  brings  us  to  a  livelier  sense  of  the 
Saviour's  presence,  ''closer  than  thinking  or 
breathing,  nearer  than  hands  or  feet." 

As  time  passes  and  our  knowledge  of  the  lan- 
guage and  the  ways  of  the  people  increases,  it 

[51] 


INSIDE  VIEWS   OF   MISSION   LIFE 

becomes  easier  to  enter  into  their  hearts  and  lives 
and  find  friends  and  companionship  among  them. 
Every  year  on  the  field  drives  the  specter  of  lone- 
liness further  away,  but  alas,  to  many  of  us  every 
year  brings  nearer  the  second  trial  enumerated 
above,  one  peculiar  to  married  people  and  par- 
ents. I  refer  to  parting  with  children  at  an  early 
age. 

Many  missionary  i^arents  have  felt  that  they 
had  no  real  experience  of  trial  until  the  time 
came 

"  To  see  their  bright  ones  disappear, 
Drawn  up  like  morning  dews." 

In  hot  countries  where  even  very  little  children 
must  be  sent  away,  the  question  as  to  what  is 
duty  must  be  a  very  difficult  one  to  decide.  To 
what  extent  are  parents  justified  in  shifting  upon 
other  people  responsibility  for  the  training  and 
care  of  the  children  whom  God  has  given  them'? 
Are  the  children  likely  to  turn  out  well  when  left 
at  a  tender  age  in  an  institution  or  to  the  care 
of  relatives  perhaps  not  altogether  In  sympathy 
with  the  life  work  of  the  parents?  Is  it  better, 
perhaps,  for  the  mother  to  reside  in  America 
with  the  children,  leaving  the  husband  and  fa- 
ther to  work  on  for  an  indefinite  period  alone  ? 
Or  shall  both  the  parents  suspend  their  mission- 
ary work  for  a  term  of  years  at  least,  in  the  ex- 
pectation of  being  able  to  take  it  up  later  on? 

[52] 


MISSIONARY   TRIALS 

All  these  questions  open  up  suck  vistas  of  broken 
homes,  separated  families,  heartache  and  perhaps 
bitter  disappointment,  that  only  a  fool  would 
rush  in  with  ready  opinions  and  advice  as  to  the 
right  course  to  pursue.     Of  one  thing  we  may  be 
sure  that,  if  the  hearts  of  all  concerned  are  fully 
Yielded  up  to  God,  he  will  make  his  will  for  them 
plain,  and  will  give  strength  to  bear  the  burden 
which  cannot  be  escaped  by  any  course  of  pro- 
cedure. ,  ., 
In  cases  where  the  climate  admits  of  this,  chil- 
dren may  be  kept  beyond  at  least  the  early  years 
of   their   childhood,   but  the  question  of  their 
education  is  most  serious.     Here  in  Pyeng  Yang, 
where  we  have  at  the  present  time  in  our  mission 
community  eleven  families  with  children,  we  have 
solved  the  problem  by  putting  our  mites  together 
and  with  the  help  of  this  and  that  generous  friend 
at  home,  have  our  own  little  school  with  a  teacher 
brought  out  from  America.     The  blessing  that 
this  school  has  been  during  the  ten  years  o    its 
existence  is  not  easily  calculable.     Without  it, 
we  missionary  mothers  would  have  been  obliged 
to  teach  the  children  ourselves,  without  nearly  so 
much  profit  to  them,  and  with  very  considerable 
loss  to  the  mission  work. 

When  the  school  was  started  only  four  families 

were  responsible  for  its  financial  support,  yet  we 

have  always  seemed  to  have  enough.     Even  it  a 

mission  community  is  very  small  my  advice  would 

[53] 


INSIDE   VIEWS   OF   MISSION   LIFE 

be  to  economize  in  every  other  direction  and  have 
a  school.  Where  this  cannot  be  done,  nothing 
remaius  but  for*  the  parents  concerned  to  give  the 
time  necessary  to  carry  on  the  education  of  the 
children.  This  is  not  an  ideal  arrangement  from 
any  standpoint,  but  it  is  very  many  times  better 
than  to  send  them  to  America  at  an  early  age. 
To  our  friends  at  home  and  to  some  on  the  mis- 
sion field  this  may  seem  a  strange  statement. 
Under  what  circumstances  could  it  possibly  be 
better  to  keep  boys  and  girls  to  maturity  in 
heathen  rather  than  in  Christian  surroundings'? 
But  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  immediate 
surroundings  of  the  families  of  missionaries  are 
not  heathen,  but  are— or  ought  to  be — very 
strongly  Christian.  It  is  easy  to  inculcate  in  the 
mind  even  of  a  very  little  child  the  idea  that  they 
are  partners  in  the  missionary  enterprise,  and 
that  their  little  lights  also  must  shine  clear  and 
bright  from  day  to  day.  Sin  is  so  open  and  un- 
disguised on  the  mission  field  that  it  is  easier  to 
guard  the  child  against  it  than  it  sometimes  is  in 
Christian  America  where  it  so  often  lurks  in  un- 
suspected places.  In  the  first  shock  of  contact 
with  heathenism,  we  are  naturally  inclined  to 
hark  back  to  the  homelands  as  a  sort  of  Canaan 
where  sins  and  sorrows  fail  to  grow.  We  find 
ourselves  perhaps  in  a  country  where  contagious 
diseases  rage  unchecked.  Children  die  of  small- 
pox within  a  stone's  throw,  and  the  loathsome 
[54] 


MISSIONARY   TRIALS 

little  forms  are  wrapped  in  straw  aud  raised  on  a 
platform  in  the  open  field,  to  secure  the  full  bene- 
fit of  the  disiutegratiug  and  disseminating  influ- 
ences of  wind  and  rain.  Typhus  is  always  in  the 
air,  mad  dogs  run  amuck  in  the  street,  or  the 
pneumonic  plague  sweeps  unhindered  through 
the  country,  leaving  a  broad  track  of  death  be- 
hind. Perhaps  we  lose  little  children  under  cir- 
cumstances that  leave  through  life  an  unhealed 
wound  in  the  heart.  As  our  furlough  time  ap- 
proaches we  find  ourselves  looking  forward  to  a 
year  of  blessed  respite  from  unhygienic  surround- 
ings for  both  soul  and  body.  But  less  than  a 
twelvemonth  of  observation  and  experience  in 
the  homeland  is  apt  to  be  sufficient  to  remind  us 
that  death  reigns  in  America,  too,  and  that  chil- 
dren slip  away  from  their  parents'  grasp  in  spite 
of  every  possible  medical  precaution.  Then  there 
are  moral  lepers  in  America,  as  well  as  in  China, 
Korea  or  India,  and  a  general  use  of  profanity 
that  is  entirely  unknown  to  many  non-Christian 
peoples.  I  know  of  two  little  boys,  who,  after  a 
short  experience  in  the  common  schools  of  Amer- 
ica, begged  their  mother  almost  with  tears  to  take 
them  back  to  their  home  on  the  mission  field. 
^'The  boys  here  swear  so  dreadfully,"  they  said, 
''  and  we  can't  get  the  words  out  of  our  minds." 
Unceasing  vigilance  on  the  part  of  the  parents 
is  ever  the  price  of  purity  in  the  children,  and 
many   sorrowing  fathers  and  mothers   both   in 

[55] 


INSIDE   VIEWS   OF   MISSION   LIFE 

Christian  and  uou-Cliristian  lauds  have  awaked 
to  find  that  while  they  were  busy  here  and  there 
about  good  and  useful  tasks,  their  children's 
purity  was  gone,  they  knew  not  how.  Home 
duties  must  ever  come  first  to  a  mother,  and  the 
question  as  to  how  much  and  what  kind  of  work 
a  missionary  mother  should  attempt  is  one  that 
circumstances  and  individual  judgment  must  de- 
cide. In  lands  where  servants  are  as  cheap, 
plentiful  and  excellent  as  they  are  in  the  Orient, 
however,  even  a  busy  mother,  by  planning  sys- 
tematically, finds  herself  in  possession  of  spare 
hours.  Several  ojDtions  present  themselves  as  to 
the  possible  use  of  these.  Instead  of  training  the 
servants,  she  can  take  upon  herself  the  more  par- 
ticular parts  of  the  housework,  or  the  bulk  of  the 
sewing,  and  occupy  herself  in  this  way.  Or, 
with  the  other  ladies  of  the  community,  she  can 
keep  a  little  round  of  social  functions  going, 
pleasant  and  entertaining,  thus  furnishing  the 
flowers  necessary — according  to  the  poet — for 
softening  the  tread  of  Time's  foot.  Or  she  can 
resolutely  set  aside  her  spare  time  for  the  study 
of  the  language,  preparation  for  classes  among 
the  women  or  in  the  schools,  literary  work,  help- 
ing in  the  hospitals,  visiting  among  her  native 
neighbors,  or  any  other  form  of  effort  that  she 
finds  profitable.  Wives  and  mothers  all  over  the 
mission  field  are  busy  with  any  and  all  forms  of 
Christian   endeavor,  and  the  splendid  sons  and 

[5b  J 


MISSIONARY   TRIALS 

daiigLters  who  come  out  of  their  homes  are  i)roof 
that  duties  that  come  first  have  been  giveu  their 
rightful  place.  I  like  to  remember  that  it  was  the 
sou  of  missionaries,  a  boy  of  eighteen,  who  at  the 
time  of  the  burning  of  the  Iroquois  theater  in 
Chicago  took  his  stand  on  a  plank  connecting  the 
balcony  of  the  burning  building  with  a  place  of 
safety,  and,  lifting  the  panic-stricken  women  and 
children  one  after  the  other  in  his  strong  young- 
arms,  passed  them  on  beyond  the  reach  of  the  fire. 
The  flames  rolled  on  and  over  him,  but  he  stayed 
at  his  iDOst  until  he  was  burned  beyond  recovery. 
"  Hushed  be  the  heart  and  still  "  at  the  thought 
of  the  hallowed  pride  and  joy  that  must  have 
filled  that  mother's  heart  in  far-off  South  Amer- 
ica. 

Married  women  who  have  taken  no  i)art  or 
interest  in  the  mission  enterprise  have  been  so 
few  in  the  circle  of  my  acquaintance  that  I  am 
hardly  qualified  to  speak  on  the  subject,  but  I 
will  venture  to  express  the  opinion  that  they  are 
not  so  healthful,  either  mentally,  spiritually  or 
physically  as  they  would  otherwise  be,  and  if 
their  families  have  developed  any  more  satis- 
factorily than  others,  my  attention  has  not  been 
called  to  it.  Moreover,  the  existence  in  a  mis- 
sion home  or  station  of  an  element  in  the  least 
degree  out  of  sympathy  or  indifferent  to  the 
aims  of  the  mission  cannot  but  be  detrimental 
to  the  enterprise  as  a  whole.     Children  will  uat- 

[57] 


INSIDE   VIEWS   OF   MISSION    LIFE 

urally  take  their  cue  from  the  mother  iu  their 
attitude  toward  mission  work,  and  it  is  quite 
I)ossible  for  a  family  out  of  sympathy  with  the 
work  of  the  husband  and  father  to  nullify  much 
earnest  effort  on  his  part.  In  general  it  may  be 
said  that  any  man  is  heavily  handicapi)ed  in  the 
attempt  to  reach  and  hold  the  plane  of  his  best 
effort,  if  he  is  deprived  of  sympathetic  support 
in  his  home. 

Unquestionably  the  greatest  trial  that  any  mis- 
sionary can  be  called  upon  to  endure  is  to  toil 
through  a  long  night  of  years  and  take  little  or 
nothing.  Surely  this  is  the  supremest  test  of 
faith.  Then  it  is  hard  to  see  promising  converts 
slip  back  into  heathenism,  changed  from  bright 
professors  and  seemingly  affectionate  friends  into 
bitter  personal  enemies  and  i3ersecutors  of  the 
faith  they  once  followed.  To  us  in  Korea,  who 
found  here  a  people  prepared  of  God  for  our 
coming,  the  awful  heartsickness  of  long- deferred 
hope  has  not  been  part  of  our  portion.  No  hoary 
old  heathen  faith  sets  itself  like  an  impenetrable 
wall  before  us.  The  difficulties  of  caste  are  al- 
most unknown,  and  absorbing  business  interests 
do  not  crowd  upon  our  people.  They  are,  for 
the  most  part,  a  simple,  unexactiug  folk,  unsus- 
picious and  unspoiled.  Friendly  advances  are 
received  in  a  friendly  manner,  and  the  good 
seed  of  the  kingdom  strikes  quick  and  lasting 
root  in  these  good  and  honest  hearts. 
[58] 


MISSIONARY   TRIALS 

Of  those  devoted  brethren  in  other  fields  who 
lay  down  their  lives  daily  for  their  people,  re- 
ceiving little  gratitude  iu  return,  and  few  souls 
for  their  hire,  I  can  only  say  that,  somewhere  iu 
the  deep  recesses  of  heaven,  there  must  be  laid 
up  for  them  a  special  fullness  and  sweetness  of 
reward  which  those  of  us  who  are  so  richly  com- 
pensated from  day  to  day  can  hardly  expect. 

In  promising  and  uupromisiug  mission  fields 
alike  one  burden  must  be  borne,  and  that  is  the 
paucity  of  workers.  To  know  that  there  are  mil- 
lions of  souls  perishiug  within  reach,  uuvisited 
by  a  single  gospel  messenger  j  to  see  grand  oppor- 
tunities for  propagating  the  gospel  pass  by  unim- 
proved, these  are  trials.  Sometimes  word  reaches 
us  of  a  group  of  believers,  lively  and  hopeful. 
They  put  up  a  little  house  of  worship  and  meet 
regularly  for  divine  service.  But  after  a  hasty 
visit  or  two  from  the  missionary  comes  a  long 
space  of  time  when  they  are  left  to  themselves. 
They  are  young  and  weak  in  the  faith,  of  neces- 
sity they  are  instructed  but  imperfectly  in  the 
Way  of  Life,  and  they  are  left  to  wander  in  the 
wilderness.  How  can  they  know  that  the  mis- 
sionary shepherd  Is  burdened  with  very  much 
more  work  than  he  can  by  any  possibility  be 
expected  to  accomplish?  Doubts  spring  up  as 
to  his  love  for  them,  and  their  enthusiasm  in  the 
cause  of  Christ  wanes.  Spiritual  hunger  and 
thirst  do  their  work,  and  one  by  one  the  famished 
[59] 


INSIDE  VIEWS   OF   MISSION   LIFE 

little  flock  falls  a  prey  to  the  devourer.  These 
things  are  veritable  burdens  and  heavy  to  be 
borne. 

According  to  some  writers  from  the  field,  no 
chapter  on  missionary  trials  would  be  complete 
without  mention  of  the  servants,  but  my  only 
reason  for  speaking  of  them  in  this  connection 
is  that  I  am  not  contemjjlati ng  a  chapter  on 
missionary  blessings.  My  thoughts  run  back  as 
I  sit  here  to  some  of  the  faithful  servants  I  have 
known.  There  was  Moon  Sami,  friend  and  serv- 
ant of  a  lonely  man  whose  chief  solace  during 
the  prolonged  absence  of  his  wife  and  children 
was  a  frisky  little  scamp  of  a  dog.  Furlough 
time  came,  and  the  missionary  went  away  for  a 
year's  visit  with  his  family,  committing  Gyp  to 
Moon  Sami's  care  during  his  absence.  Presently 
Gyp  fell  ill  and  suspicious  symptoms  developed. 
"Kill  him,"  advised  the  other  missionaries,  "be- 
fore he  goes  mad."  What !  kill  Gyp,  the  Mok- 
sa's  (missionary's)  only  companion  and  comfort, 
who  had  been  left  in  his  care  ?  Never !  He 
would  himself  run  the  risk  of  death  first.  So 
Gyp  was  lovingly  tended  through  the  throes  of 
hydrophobia  until  Moon  Sami  was  actually  bit- 
ten, and  his  life  was  saved  only  by  a  hurried 
trip  to  a  distant  institution  where  the  Pasteur 
treatment  could  be  applied. 

Then  there  was  Yoon  Ssi,  left  with  ironing  to 
do  and  a  knitted  bedspread  to  mend  while  the 

[60] 


MISSIONARY   TRIALS 

family  went  away  for  their  summer  outiug  of 
ten  days  on  the  river.  It  was  in  August,  and 
Yoon  Ssi,  toiling  over  the  ironing  board,  was 
prostrated  by  the  heat.  She  lingered  for  three 
days  in  great  weakness  and  pain,  but  the  day 
before  she  died  she  sent  for  the  bedspread  and 
the  darning  cotton,  saying  perhaps  she  would  be 
able  to  mend  it  before  the  pouin  (lady)  returned. 
When  the  missionary  came  home  and  found  Yoon 
Ssi  in  her  humble  grace  and  heard  the  story  of 
her  last  days,  she  realized  something  of  how 
David  would  have  felt  had  those  three  lovers  of 
his  been  slain  in  their  gallant  dash  for  the  drink 
of  cool  water  that  he  craved. 

Old  Pong  Subang  comes  to  my  mind.  He 
was  so  feeble  and  apparently  stupid  that  when 
a  family  newly  arrived  employed  him  as  a  gate- 
man,  the  other  families  deplored  in  private  their 
unfortunate  choice.  But  as  far  as  faithfulness 
and  affectionateness  could  accomplish  it,  old  Poug 
was  an  excellent  servant.     Time  passed  and  the 

W 's  were    transferred    to    another   station, 

leaving  old  Pong  behind.  Months  later,  on  the 
birthday  of  one  of  the  family,  he  appeared  at 
the  door.  He  had  walked  three  hundred  miles 
to  offer  his  congratulations  in  person,  and  to  pre- 
sent her  with  a  bookmark  which  his  wife  had 
embroidered.  Later  when  time  came  for  their 
home  journey  on  furlough,  he  made  the  trip  again 
and  presented  each  of  the  three  members  of  the 

[61] 


INSIDE   VIEWS   OF   MISSION    LIFE 

family  with  a  silver  medal  wliicli  he  had  had  ex- 
pressly designed  aud  paid  for  o^ut  of  his  i)Overty. 

Sometimes  maids  at  home,  I  am  told,  object  to 
visitors  or  unauticipated  additions  to  the  house- 
hold, and  according  to  this  analogy,  onr  good  Su 
Ssi  might  have  been  exj)ected  to  assert  herself  un- 
pleasantly last  year  when  a  motherless  little  niece 
and  nei)hew  were  added  to  our  family  circle.  Far 
from  it.  She  ran  out  to  meet  them  when  they 
came,  took  them  in  her  arms  and  wept  over  their 
motherless  condition.  She  prays  for  them  by 
name  in  morning  worship,  and  never  wearies  of 
doing  little  kindnesses  for  them.  In  fact,  one  of 
our  difficulties  with  servants  in  this  part  of  the 
world  arises  not  from  unwillingness  to  serv^e  but 
from  over-willingne*ss,  so  that  it  is  a  hard  matter 
to  keep  them  from  doing  for  the  children  in  our 
families  what  the  children  should  learn  to  do  for 
themselves. 

True,  servants  in  missionary  households  are 
human,  and  they  have  their  faults  in  common 
with  the  rest  of  humanity.  Even  our  good  Su 
Ssi  is  not  exempt.  Occasionally  when  I  appear 
in  the  kitchen  at  an  unexpected  moment,  I  find 
what  seems  to  be  a  bowl  of  breakfast  mush  aud  a 
cup  of  coffee  arranged  evidently  for  some  one's 
consumption.  Or  an  unanticipated  peep  into  the 
teakettle  brings  to  view,  simmering  cozilj^,  an  egg 
which  cannot  be  accounted  for  by  any  plans  for 
salad  in  the  near  future.     Or  a  plate  of  pancakes 

[62] 


MISSIONARY   TRIALS 

left  from  breakfast  disappears.  Now  these  thiugs 
are  all  taboo,  for  Su  Ssi,  being  the  recipient  of  a 
monthly  wage  of  the  equivalent  of  five  dollars 
gold,  is  exi)ected  to  board  herself  at  home,  and 
agrees  to  do  so  very  cheerfully.  It  is  not  right 
that  she  should  take  our  food.  I  am  sorry  for  her 
own  sake  that  she  should  do  it  even  occasionally, 
and  j)erhaps  I  had  better  speak  to  her  about  it. 
But  wait  a  moment.  It  is  baking  day,  and  Su 
Ssi  has  been  here  since  soon  after  five  o'clock  this 
morning.  The  regular  arrangement  is  for  her  to 
go  home  for  her  breakfast  about  nine  and  come 
back  at  ten,  but  she  feels  that  the  interests  of  the 
loaves,  which  she  has  just  put  back  of  the  stove 
to  rise,  demand  her  presence  here.  So  she  fills  in 
the  interim  with  the  family  darning,  and  by  the 
time  the  bread,  light  and  white  and  tender,  is 
drawn  from  the  oven,  it  is  time  to  prepare  the 
vegetables  for  dinner,  and  two  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon  comes  before  she  gets  away.  The  same 
thing  happened  a  few  daj^s  ago  when  the  children 
and  Tsi  Iri,  the  big  boy  who  helps  with  the 
housework,  came  in  from  the  garden  with  those 
great  pans  full  of  raspberries  that  had  to  be 
canned  at  once,  and  it  is  likely  to  happen  again 
next  Monday  if  the  wash  is  unusually  large.  I 
remember,  too,  that  for  three  mouths  now,  Su  Ssi 
has  ''cooked  for  company,"  members  of  other 
stations  who  are  here  on  mission  business,  to  say 
nothing  of  various  parties  of  world  travelers  and 
[63] 


INSIDE  VIEWS   OF   MISSION   LIFE 

others  who  may  hax)peu  in  for  a  few  days  at  any 
time.  She  does  the  bulk  of  the  plain  sewing,  too, 
for  the  family,  and  all  without  a  word  of  com- 
plaint. Come  to  think  of  it,  that  egg,  beiug  a 
Korean  egg,  cost  considerably  less  than  a  cent, 
and  was  probably  only  "partially  good,"  auyway. 
The  mush,  on  a  closer  look,  proves  to  be  the 
scrapings  of  the  kettle,  and  the  coffee  the  dregs 
from  the  breakfast  table.  I  begin  to  fear  that  she 
did  not  eat  those  pancakes  the  other  day,  after 
all.  PerhaxDS  they  were  thrown  away  by  mistake, 
and  I  form  a  quick  resolution  to  see  that  she  gets 
them  next  time.  No,  if  I  say  anything  to  Su  Ssi, 
I  will  tell  her  how  much  I  appreciate  her  affec- 
tionate service,  and  how  well  I  know  that  if  I 
have  accomj^lished  anything  as  a  missionary,  it 
is  because  her  hard  working  brown  hands  and 
those  of  her  fellow  servants  and  predecessors  have 
relieved  me  of  the  household  tasks  that  otherwise 
would  have  occupied  all  my  time  and  strength. 
At  the  same  time,  if  I  am  wise  I  will  put  the  eggs 
and  all  other  desirable  and  easily  appropriable 
things  under  lock  and  key,  leaving  out  only  quan- 
tities sufficient  for  a  day  or  two.  This  may  seem 
distrustful  and  troublesome,  but  the  strong  prob- 
ability is  that  it  may  save  me  a  lasting  grief  in  the 
discovery  that  I  have  trained  up  a  hardened  thief. 
In  a  way  I  stand  in  the  place  of  God  to  Su  Ssi. 
He  considers  her  frame  and  remembers  that  she 
is  made  of  easily  tempted  dust — and  so  must  I. 

[64] 


MISSIONARY   TRIALS 

With  a  change  of  name  and  detail,  what  I  hav^e 
written  is  true  of  an  army  of  humble  folks  all  over 
mission  countries.  I  wonder  if  they  know  that 
they  were  remembered  when  the  beautiful  new 
Cathedral  atLiverx)Ool  was  planned,  and  a  stained 
window  was  put  in  commemorating  ' '  Mary  Rogers 
(stewardess  of  the  *  Stella '),  and  all  other  faithful 
servants."  However  that  may  be,  I  thank  God 
for  the  assurance  that  the  names  of  very  many 
are  written  in  the  Book  of  Life. 

No  one  can  claim  with  reason  that  housekeep- 
ing in  the  Orient  is  without  its  special  difficulties. 
To  begin,  as  some  of  us  did,  with  a  cook  who  had 
never  seen  a  cookstove,  a  table  or  a  piece  of  soap, 
who  had  no  knowledge  of  white  flour,  sugar, 
butter,  milk,  lard,  tea  or  coffee  as  cooking  in- 
gredients, would  be  a  toilsome  operation  under 
any  circumstances.  But  add  to  this  ignorance 
of  each  other's  language,  reducing  the  possibility 
of  intercommunication  entirely  to  the  realm  of 
''  signs  and  wonders,"  and  the  resultant  situation 
is  one  from  which  only  youth,  buoyant,  reckless 
and  laughter-loving,  can  extract  real  pleasure. 
Fortunately  such  an  experience,  if  it  comes  at  all, 
is  in  the  springtime  of  our  missionary  career, 
and  if  we  fall  upon  trying  times  later  on,  it  is 
well  to  remember  that  youth  is  not  a  matter  of 
years  but  of  spirit.  By  an  effort  of  will  we  can 
keep  with  us  a  large  measure  of  that  early  zest  in 
overcoming  difficulties  and  in  bringing  into  be- 
[65] 


INSIDE   VIEWS   OF   MISSION    LIFE 

ing  law  aud  order  where  lliere  w  ao  uone  before. 
And  to  the  end  of  oar  lives  we  cau  cultivate  what 
some  one  has  so  ax)tly  termed  the  ''saving  grace '' 
of  humor  that  goes  so  far  toward  keeping  us  all 
cheerful  and  sane.  Tlien  when  a  green  servant 
puts  on  a  hot  stove  our  one  j)recious  bit  of  solid 
silverware — a  relic  left  from  a  remote  ancestress 
— to  weep  itself  away  in  silver  tears,  or  deposits 
a  hot  teakettle  on  the  one  piece  of  furniture  that 
we  really  prize,  or  digs  up  the  asparagus  bed 
that  we  have  been  coaxing  into  existence  for  a 
period  of  years,  or  commits  any  other  of  the  long 
list  of  errors  of  j  udgment  that  might  be  compiled, 
we  will  be  prepared  to  take  it,  if  not  joyfully,  at 
least  with  equanimity. 

Sometimes  our  friends  in  America  are  willing 
to  grant  us  the  luxury  of  servauts  in  view  of  the 
necessity  laid  upon  us  to  learn  the  language  and 
accomplish  something  as  missionaries,  but  they 
wonder  why  such  a  troop  of  them  seems  to  be 
inevitable.  And  missionaries,  too,  have  mo- 
ments of  despair  when  they  w^onder  the  same 
thing.  One  reason  may  be  found  in  the  fact  that 
in  the  Orient  the  system  of  public  service  is 
either  not  developed  at  all,  or  very  imperfectly 
so  as  compared  with  the  Occident.  Private  serv- 
ants must  do  for  each  household  what  people  in 
more  favored  countries  are  accustomed  to  have 
done  for  them  by  public  servants,  animate  and 
inanimate,   such    as    the  postman,   the  baker's 

[66] 


MISSIONARY   TEMPTATIONS 

wagOD,  the  grocer's  boy,  the  woman's  exchaoge, 
the  telephone,  telegraph,  the  trolley  line,  city 
waterworks,  lightiug  companies,  etc.,  etc.  For 
instance,  every  drop  of  water  for  household  uses 
may  have  to  be  carried  half  a  mile  in  jars  on  the 
head  or  in  tin  cans  suspended  from  a  yoke  borne 
on  the  shoulders.  Or  the  currency  of  the  country 
may  be  so  small  as  to  value  and  so  large  as  to  the 
individual  piece,  that  when  a  missionary  wants 
to  do  a  little  shopping,  instead  of  putting  a  dollar 
bill  or  two  in  her  pocketbook  and  sallying  foith 
alone  as  she  would  in  America,  slie  is  obliged  to 
set  out  in  what  seems  like  considerable  state,  with 
a  stout  servant  in  attendance  to  carry  her  dollar's 
worth  of  money. 

Another  reason  may  be  found  in  the  fact  that 
an  oriental  servant  is  apt  to  have  a  very  definite 
idea  as  to  what  he  will  do  and  what  he  will  not 
do.  Specialization  of  labor — and  not  too  much 
of  it — is  no  new  thing  under  the  Eastern  sun. 
When  we  first  came  to  Korea,  twenty -one  years 
ago,  we  found  ourselves  provided,  through  the 
thoughtfulness  of  our  friends,  with  three  serv- 
ants :  a  cook,  a  "boy"  for  general  housework, 
and  a  gateman  to  bring  water,  cut  wood,  cultivate 
the  garden  and  take  general  care  of  the  premises. 
There  were  just  two  of  us  in  a  small  house,  and  I 
felt  that  the  three  servants,  between  them,  ought 
to  be  able  to  compass  the  washing  and  ironing. 
But  because  I  insisted  on  this  we  lost  our  cook, 

[67] 


INSIDE  VIEWS   OF  MISSION   LIFE 

and  I  was  obliged  to  take  a  greeu  boy  and  train 
him  into  the  work.  Ten  years  later,  with  a 
family  of  six  and  four  servants,  we  were  treated 
to  a  long  siege  of  sulks  in  the  kitchen  because  I 
took  the  giOLind  that  a  fifth  servant  would  be 
superfluous.  !N^ow,  with  a  mail  box  a  few  steps 
away,  a  Chinese  boy  from  the  general  provision 
and  dry-goods  store,  and  the  butcher's  man  com- 
ing every  morning  for  orders,  a  community 
telephone  and  city  waterworks,  a  new  era  has 
dawned  and  we  are  getting  along  very  comfort- 
ably with  two  servants  and  extra  help  during  the 
gardening  season.  They  are  both  Christians, 
good  personal  friends,  and  are  willing  to  accom- 
modate each  other.  Otherwise  it  would  not  be 
an  easy  arrangement  to  maintain. 

My  chapter  on  missionary  trials  has  come  to  a 
close  without  any  mention  of  what  many  mis- 
sionaries regard  as  the  greatest  trial  that  could 
fall  to  their  lot.  I  mean  the  necessity  for  giving 
up  the  work  and  leaving  the  field,  "  exiled  in  the 
homeland,'^  as  one  dear  sufferer  expressed  it. 
Years  of  effort  to  adapt  oneself  to  conditions  in 
the  Orient  naturally  tend  to  unfit  one  more  or 
less  for  life  in  the  homelands.  We  find  our- 
selves out  of  touch  with  local  happenings,  our 
thoughts  occupied  with  distant  things  of  a  sort 
not  easily  communicable  to  friends  at  home. 
The  tremendous  onrush  of  events  in  America, 
comi)ared  with  the  slow-moving  East,  makes  us 

[68] 


MISSIONARY   TRIALS 

sometimes  feel  uueertaiu  of  our  giouiK],  and  al- 
most timid.  We  are  sometimes  embarrassed  by 
finding  ourselves  greatly  overrated  and  looked 
up  to  as  persons  of  peculiar  sanctity  by  dear 
saints  and  household  martyrs  whose  lives  have 
consisted  of  daily  self-renunciation  far  exceeding 
our  own.  Eveu  in  the  matter  of  speech  we  may 
feel  ourselves  at  a  disadvantage  because  of  the 
tendency  of  our  own  native  vernacular  to  elude 
us,  while  instead  oriental  phrases  suggest  them- 
selves. 

In  my  experience  all  these  things,  except  the 
matter  of  language,  were  more  noticeable  at  the 
end  of  the  first  term  of  service.  Succeeding  fur- 
loughs find  one's  stable  equilibrium  restored  and 
we  are  able  to  feel  almost  equally  at  home  iu 
either  hemisphere.  But  always  there  is  the 
abiding  reminder,  "So  many  workers  for  Christ 
here,  so  few  there,"  to  keep  us  from  resting  iu 
the  homeland.  As  miners  flock  to  the  place 
where  gold  is,  so  missionaries  are  most  happy 
aud  at  home  where  such  rich  treasures  may  be 
had  for  the  seeking. 


[69] 


CHAPTER  III 

HOW  BUSY  IS  THE  MISSIONARY? 

While  iu  America  on  furlough  a  missionary 
remarked  on  the  delicious  quality  of  the  Rhode 
Island  Red  chicken  which  graced  a  friend's  table, 
and  spoke  in  contrast  of  the  fowls  which  we  get 
in  Korea,  which  are  foragers  and  scavengers  all 
their  lives  and  usually  well  toughened  by  the 
struggle  for  existence.  A  sharp-eyed  friend  across 
the  table,  who  was  evidently  beholding  a  real  live 
missionary  for  the  first  time,  asked  the  question, 
''Why  don't  you  keep  chickens  yourselves?" 
The  following  pages  are  an  attempt  to  answer 
that  question. 

To  get  a  comprehensive  view  of  the  work  of  a 
mission  station,  one  might  well  wish  to  be  a  bird. 
As  the  little  dwellers  up  aloft  look  down  uj)on 
the  activities  of  our  station,  these  must  take  the 
form  to  them  of  a  great  kaleidoscopic  wheel, 
radiating  out  in  every  direction  from  Pyeug  Yang, 
revolving  with  the  year  and  showing  more  or  less 
of  change  with  each  month  and  season. 

September  is  the  month  of  meetings  and  the 
beginning  of  the  yearly  cycle.  The  first  week  is 
apt  to  find  us  busy  preparing  either  to  attend  the 

[70] 


HOW   BUSY   IS   THE   MISSIONARY? 

annual  meeting  or  to  entertain  it.  One  recent 
meeting  was  held  at  Pyeng  Yang,  and  for  twelve 
days  or  so  each  of  the  nine  households  in  the 
station  entertained  from  five  to  twelve  guests  in 
addition  to  the  members  of  their  own  families. 
This  may  sound  burdensome  to  housekeepers 
at  home,  but  some  preparation  in  advance  and 
plenty  of  faithful  brown  help  in  the  kitchen  at 
tlie  time,  leaves  us  all  comparatively  care  free. 
We  are  crowded,  of  course,  but  nobody  minds 
that.  Sometimes  nearly  every  room  is  a  bed- 
room, and  the  "koangs"  as  well  (rooms  outside, 
used  ordinarily  for  storing  purposes).  The  single 
men  guests  are  asked  to  bring  their  itinerating 
outfits  of  folding  cots  and  bedding,  and  often 
other  guests  are  asked  to  bring  their  own  sheets, 
pillowcases  and  towels,  or  to  contribute  to  the 
supply  of  spoons  and  napkins.  Washstands  are 
rigged  up  out  of  boxes,  and  all  sorts  of  makeshifts 
are  resorted  to  without  explanation  or  apology. 
Sux^i^ose  we  do  have  to  eat  soup  with  an  iron 
spoon  from  the  kitchen,  or  drink  out  of  a  jelly 
tumbler,  or  take  turns  with  several  others  in  per- 
forming our  ablutions  in  a  tin  hand  basin  on  the 
top  of  a  box  !  What  are  these  things  to  i^eople 
who  have  been  cooped  up  for  a  year  or  longer  in 
one  mission  station  with  hardly  a  glimpse  of  any 
faces  besides  their  own  ?  The  place  of  the  annual 
meeting  becomes  like  Mecca  to  the  pilgrim,  and' 
Mecca  is  all  excitement,  too,  when  the  pilgrims 
[71] 


INSIDE   VIEWS   OF   iMISSION   LIFE 

begin  to  arrive.  Here  come  the  dear  familiar 
faces  that  have  beeu  with  us  for  years,  aiul  the 
well-kDOwn  garments  with  collars  and  sleeves 
remodeled  from  last  season's  fashion  plates,  or 
masquerading  under  a  new  shade  that  smells  of 
the  dye  pot,  but  still  easily  recognizable  as  old 
acquaintances.  And  here  are  the  new  people 
just  out,  so  hopeful  and  enthusiastic  and  up-to- 
date.  We  scan  their  features  eagerly,  one  by  one, 
for  some  signs  of  that  peculiar  fitness  and  adapta- 
bility that  we  have  felt  the  need  of  ourselves,  and 
some  of  us  are  taking  notes  of  their  pretty  clothes 
with  a  view  to  working  out  improvements  in  our 
own  wardrobes.  Then  there  are  the  children,  a 
troop  of  them,  some  nearly  as  high  as  their 
parents'  shoulders,  and  coming  on  rax)idly  to  the 
age  when  the  question  of  their  education — that 
specter  which  has  sat  at  the  family  hearth  all 
these  years — can  be  thrust  aside  no  longer,  but 
must  be  faced  resolutely.  And  the  little  ones, 
born  during  the  year,  brought  up  by  their  parents, 
like  Samuel,  to  be  offered  to  the  Lord  ! 

In  the  midst  of  all  the  pleasure  and  jolly  banter 
of  meeting,  there  is  yet  the  ever-present  suggestion 
of  tears.  Some  whom  we  have  been  accustomed 
to  see  are  not  here.  They  have  fallen  in  the  har- 
ness, and  in  the  faces  of  others  a  little  of  the 
brightness  has  given  way  to  that  look  of  steadfast 
endurance  that  says,  ^'Though  he  slay  me,  yet  will 
I  trust  in  him."     Gray  hairs  are  more  plentiful, 

[72] 


HOW   BUSY    IS   THE   MISSIONARY? 

and  in  manj^  young  faces  lines  of  responsibility  and 
care  begin  to  appear.  For  every  o  ue  of  us  the  year 
has  had  its  burdeus,  problems  and  i)erp lex i ties,  but 
it  has  had  its  joys  and  triumphs  as  well,  and  con- 
stant proofs  of  God's  kee^jing  and  conquering 
j)ower.  From  every  station  we  have  been  enabled 
to  come,  not  empty  handed,  but  bringing  our 
sheaves  with  us,  so  that  the  dominant  note  is  one 
of  rejoicing. 

Our  annual  meetings  always  begin  deliberately 
with  the  admiuistration  of  the  Lord's  Supper  and 
the  rite  of  infaut  baptism,  and  they  are  apt  to 
conclude  precipitately  about  ten  days  later  in  a 
midnight  meeting  when  everybody  is  in  a  great 
hurry  to  get  all  the  odds  and  ends  of  business 
despatched,  and  off  on  the  train  the  next  day. 
Each  day's  session  is  prefaced  with  an  early 
prayer  meeting,  at  about  6 :  45  A.  M.  The  reading 
of  the  reports  of  all  the  stations  and  other  general 
matters  occupy  the  first  few  days.  Then  comes 
the  real  business  of  the  meeting — the  reports  of  the 
various  committees.  Matters  of  the  greatest  im- 
portance to  the  welfare  of  the  mission  are  brought 
up,  widely  varying  opinions  as  to  the  best  course 
of  procedure  are  stoutly  maintained,  yet  when 
the  question  is  called  for  and  the  vote  taken,  it  is 
good  to  see  how  strong  men  whose  whole  hearts 
have  been  set  on  a  certain  measure  can  see  their 
hopes  go  down  and  yield  gracefully  to  the  will  of 
the  majority.  And  if,  in  the  heat  of  debate,  the 
[73] 


INSIDE  VIEWS   OF   MISSION   LIFE 

harsh  word  is  occasionally  spoken,  yet  the  manly 
word  of  apology  is  apt  to  follow,  and  we  are  all 
the  better  in  the  end  for  the  little  demonstration 
of  what  grace  is  able  to  do  with  these  hearts  of 
ours  that  are  naturally  so  willful  and  contentious. 
I  notice  that  every  year  finds  us  all  a  little 
mellower,  a  little  more  tolerant  and  less  strenuous, 
more  disposed  to  let  the  ark  of  God  move  along 
without  ofi&cious  offers  of  assistance. 

When  the  annual  meeting  is  over  we  scatter 
variously.  All  who  can,  attend  the  meetings  of 
presbytery  and  General  Assembly,  the  latter  es- 
tablished for  the  first  time  in  1912.  Then  comes 
the  meeting  of  the  Presbyterian  Council — a  body 
composed  of  the  four  Presbyterian  missions  at 
work  in  Korea :  American,  North  and  South,  Aus- 
tralian and  Canadian.  After  this  is  the  meeting  of 
the  General  Evangelical  Council,  organized  at  the 
initiation  of  the  union  movement,  and  partici- 
pated in  by  all  the  missionary  bodies  in  the  coun- 
try except  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the 
Gospel. 

In  the  meanwhile  the  fall  work  is  getting  under 
way.  Local  schools  all  over  our  territory  are 
opening  up  for  the  term's  work.  Bright  boys, 
the  output  of  these  local  schools,  come  trooping 
in  to  begin  their  higher  education  in  the  Pyeng 
Yang  Academy.  The  preliminary  examinations 
have  already  been  held,  so  that  the  worst  strain 
of  anxiety  has  been  removed,  but  still  they  are 

[74] 


HOW   BUSY   IS   THE   MISSIONARY? 

all  atremble  with  the  novelty  of  leaving  home 
for  the  first  time,  of  seeing  the  wonders  of  the 
metropolis,  and  of  finding  themselves  actually 
enrolled  in  a  school  conducted  on  the  far-famed 
Megook  (American)  plan.  A  little  later  the 
college  opens  and  the  full  stress  of  work  is  on. 
Nearly  one  hundred  boys  in  all  besiege  the  self- 
help  department  for  work  in  order  to  enable  them 
to  remain  in  school,  and  the  shops  are  full  of  busy 
workers  with  hammer,  plane  and  saw.  Others 
are  out  making  roads,  and  gathering  in  the  crops 
from  the  school  fields. 

Every  classroom  is  full  and  rooms  in  the  theo- 
logical seminary  are  in  requisition  to  accommo- 
date the  overflow.  This  condition  will  be  relieved 
as  soon  as  the  new  college  building  is  completed, 
and  thereby  hangs  one  reason  why  one  family  in 
the  community  did  not  keep  chickens  one  year. 
All  the  plans,  drawings  and  specifications  of 
every  kind  for  this  building,  a  substantial  three- 
story  structure,  had  to  be  worked  out,  first  in 
English  and  then  in  Korean,  of  evenings  around 
the  family  lamp,  or  during  spare  moments  snatched 
from  other  duties  during  the  day.  The  mission- 
ary in  charge,  being  also  president  of  the  institu- 
tion, had  been  accustomed  to  give  his  attention 
to  subjects  astronomical  or  otherwise  more  or  less 
celestial,  and  the  geological  studies  to  which  his 
attention  had  been  directed  had  not  included  un- 
der the  head  of  earth  formations  the  subject  of 

[75] 


INSIDE   VIEWS   OF   MISSION   LIFE 

three-story  brick  college  buildings.  So  notbiug 
remained  but  to  take  up  the  task  de  novo,  and  an 
aggregate  of  many  hours  had  to  be  put  in  in  his 
study,  hemmed  in  by  huge  volumes  on  archi- 
tecture. After  he  had  himself  acquired  some 
knowledge  of  the  subject,  the  task  was  before 
him  of  instructing  the  contractor,  a  Korean  who 
had  never  before  attempted  nor  even  seen  so  large 
a  building.  Later  the  new  dormitories  were  be- 
gun, and  a  constant  suiDervision  of  the  two  build- 
ings had  to  be  kept  up  in  addition  to  a  full  bur- 
den of  classroom-teaching,  administrative  and 
other  duties. 

What  has  been  said  about  the  boys'  college  and 
academy  applies  equally  to  the  girls'  academj^ 
The  same  year  when  the  other  building  opera- 
tions were  going  on,  the  energies  of  those  con- 
cerned were  applied  to  the  erection  of  a  good 
two-story  brick  building  to  serve  as  dormitory 
for  the  girls  and  as  residence  for  the  women  in 
charge. 

In  September  begins  the  school  for  girls  and 
women  who  cannot  attend  the  academy,  with 
three  sessions  a  week.  In  October  the  Women's 
Bible  Institute — in  the  work  of  which  all  the 
women  of  the  station  take  part — resumes  work 
with  a  Normal  Class  for  Sunday-school  teach- 
ers, followed  by  what  is  kuow^n  as  a  Workers' 
Class.  This  class  is  attended  by  women  from 
far  beyond  the  limits  of  our  teriitory,  who  come 

[76] 


HOW   BUSY   IS   THE   MISSIONARY? 

to  prepare  themselves  by  a  two  weeks'  course  of 
traiuiug  to  teach  country  Bible  classes  during 
the  year.  Cue  womau  iu  atteudauce  iu  oue  re- 
cent class  walked  a  distance  of  three  hundred 
and  thirty-three  miles  over  rough  mountain 
roads,  the  journey  consuming  twenty  days.  She 
said  she  "had  teaching  to  do  and  wanted  to 
learn  how. "  A  few  of  these  women  are  supported 
by  the  Korean  church,  but  the  majority  of  them 
are  unpaid  workers.  In  one  year,  from  Novem- 
ber till  March,  one  hundred  and  eighty-seven 
women  from  this  class  held  a  total  of  one  hun- 
dred and  six  country  classes,  attended  by  an 
aggregate  of  thirty- nine  hundred  and  twenty 
women. 

In   October  the  itinerators,  men  and  women, 
begin  to  scatter  for  the  isolated  country  regions, 
where  a  missionary's  visit  is  an  occurrence  long 
anticipated.     These  trips  may  be  a  week  or  they 
may  be  a  month  in  length,  and  they  are  kept  up 
until  the  station  Bible  classes  in  January  demand 
the  presence  of  the  itinerators.     Equipped  with 
folding  cots,  bedding  and  sufdcient  tinned  food 
to  supplement  the  good  cheer  of  the  Korean 
hostesses,  and  accompanied  by  the  indispensable 
"boy,"    whose    duty  it   is  to  secure  for  them 
what  measure  of  creature  comfort  he  can,  off 
they  go,  on  foot,  on  horse  or  donkey,  or  in  chairs 
swung    on    long    poles  and  carried  by  coolies. 
Over  high  mountain  passes  they  go,    through 

[77] 


INSIDE   VIEWS   OF   MISSION    LIFE 

remote  defiles  of  the  hills,  across  deep  rivers  or 
flooded  plains,  anywhere  and  everywhere  in  the 
search  for  the  lost  sheep  or  the  little  flock  of 
faithful  Christians  which  has  been  huddling  to- 
gether on  the  mountain  side,  holding  out  against 
ail  foes  as  best  they  could  while  the  shepherd 
was  away. 

All  sorts  of  possible  adventures  await  the 
itiuerator.  He  may  find  himself  in  the  way  of 
robbers  who  are  uncomfortably  reckless  as  to 
who  the  victim  of  their  demonstrations  may  be. 
In  inhospitable  regions  he  may  be  refused  ad- 
mittance to  the  inns,  or  he  may  be  received  late 
at  night  and  put  to  lodge  in  a  dark,  cold  room, 
where  every  available  foot  of  floor  space  is  al- 
ready occupied  by  sleeping  forms.  His  cot  may 
be  miles  behind  him  on  the  pack  load,  or  even  if 
he  has  it,  there  may  be  no  room  to  put  it  up. 
The  comfort  for  the  night  of  his  fellow  lodgers 
depends  upon  conserving  the  heat  from  their  own 
bodies,  so  the  one  small  door  and  window  are 
tightly  shut.  Perhaps  the  coming  of  morning 
reveals  the  fact  that  the  man  beside  him,  who  was 
so  hot  and  restless  during  the  night,  is  black  and 
swollen  with  smallpox.  Or  the  itinerator  may 
lodge  for  a  week  in  a  little  room  eight  feet  square 
before  he  learns  that  it  was  vacated  for  him  by  a 
leper.  He  may  be  precipitated  midstream  into 
an  icy  current,  miles  away  from  the  possibility 
of  dry  clothes,  or  he  may  be — and  in  all  proba- 

[78] 


HOW   BUSY   IS   THE   MISSIONARY? 

bility  will  be— devoured  by  vermiu  of  a  pleni- 
tude and  variety  well-nigh  beyond  the  j)ossi bility 
of  description  or  calculation.  Be  these  things  as 
they  may,  they  are  not  remembered  long  when  he 
approaches  his  destination  and  the  people  pour 
out  to  meet  him  along  the  way,  from  Grandfather 
Kim,  dim  of  eye,  and  leaning  like  Jacob  on  his 
staff,  down  to  little  Sam  Poki,  who  outruns  them 
all,  being  unembarrassed  by  clothing  or  any  sense 
of  shame. 

October,  November  and  December  are  busy 
months  for  the  itinerator,  as  well  as  from  Feb- 
ruary on  till  the  coming  of  hot  weather.  Last 
year  in  our  country  districts  twenty-three  hun- 
dred and  fifty-one  persons  were  received  into  the 
church,  and  thirty-two  hundred  and  twenty-eight 
into  the  catechumenate.  In  nearly  all  of  the  two 
hundred  and  eighty-one  country  churches  Bible 
training  classes  were  held,  either  by  the  mission- 
aries themselves,  or  by  Koreans  whom  they  had 
previously  trained  for  the  purpose. 

The  itinerator  gets  home  for  Christmas  if  he 
can,  and  during  January  he  must  be  in  Pyeng 
Yang,  for  during  this  month  the  station  Bible 
training  class  for  men,  with  an  attendance  last 
year  of  seven  hundred  and  seventy-two,  is  held, 
lasting  about  ten  days.  Last  year  in  addition 
to  this  class,  the  Men's  Bible  Institute  occupied 
the  whole  month.  The  Institute  holds  a  position 
midway  between  the  ordinary  training  class  of  a 

[79] 


INSIDE  VIEWS   OF   MISSION   LIFE 

week  or  ten  days'  duration,  and  the  theological 
seminary,  covering  a  course  of  three  school  years. 
It  is  for  the  benefit  of  those  men  who  are  anxious 
to  equip  themselves  for  effective  service  as  Chris- 
tian workers,  but  cannot  hope  to  take  the  full 
seminary  course.  Last  year,  its  first  session,  one 
hundred  and  eighty-one  men  were  in  attendance. 
Only  paucity  of  missionary  teachers  prevents  the 
course  from  being  extended  to  three  mouths. 

In  February  comes  the  Pyeng  Yang  city  classes 
for  both  sexes.  Last  ye-dv  saw  an  enrollment  of 
two  hundred  and  sixty-six  men  and  four  hundred 
and  eighty-five  women.  These  classes  are  held 
at  the  heathen  New  Year  season,  and  were  started 
at  the  earnest  solicitation  of  the  Christians,  as 
a  counterattraction  to  the  idolatrous  festivities 
that  prevail  at  that  time.  When  these  classes 
are  over  the  itinerators  begin  to  scatter  for  the 
spring  work  and  are  usually  at  home  only  a  few 
days  at  a  time  until  late  in  May  or  June. 

In  March  comes  the  general  class  for  country 
women  held  in  Pyeng  Yang  for  ten  days  and 
attended  last  year  by  five  hundred  and  thirty- 
two  women.  This  is  the  parent  class  of  all  our 
training-class  system  for  the  women.  How  well 
I  remember  the  first  class  that  was  held,  thirteen 
years  ago !  Mrs.  Graham  Lee  and  I  were  the 
two  women  in  the  station  who  had  been  long 
enough  on  the  field  to  take  part  in  the  teaching. 
We  sent  out  the  announcement  with  a  heart  for 

[80] 


HOW   BUSY   IS   THE   MISSIONARY? 

any  fate,  haviug  very  little  idea  how  many  to 
expect,  or  what  discouragements  we  might  en- 
counter. I  remember  we  said  to  each  other  that 
if  six  women  should  come  we  would  consider  the 
class  a  success.  When  the  proi^osition  was  put 
to  the  women  of  the  city  church  that  they  should 
entertain  the  country  women  as  their  guests 
during  the  ten  days  of  the  class,  they  responded 
royally,  and  in  a  short  time  the  entertainment 
of  twenty  visitors  was  pledged.  It  was  a  pleas- 
ure that  is  with  me  yet  to  be  at  that  meeting  and 
hear  the  testimonies  as  the  pledges  were  being 
made.  One  drew  a  graphic  picture  of  Christ's 
sufferings  for  us,  and  said  it  would  be  a  pity  if 
we  could  not  deny  ourselves  to  the  extent  of  a 
little  money  in  order  that  others  might  know 
more  about  him.  One  who  had  been  redeemed 
from  a  long  lifetime  of  wickedness  said,  "Here 
is  a  chance  to  do  something  pleasing  to  God  and 
make  ourselves  more  precious  to  him,"  and  she 
sat  down  with  tears  streaming  down  her  poor, 
sin -scarred  face.  Everybody  had  something  to 
contribute  and  some  word  of  praise  to  utter  at 
the  same  time.  Knowing  how  poor  they  all  were 
from  our  standpoint,  I  had  to  wink  hard  to  keei3 
the  tears  back,  and  am  not  sure  that  I  succeeded. 
Having  secured  the  assurance  of  entertainment, 
our  next  anxiety  was  lest  the  country  women 
would  not  respond  to  the  invitation,  for  it  was 
a  busy  time  of  year  for  them.     But  they  came 

[81] 


INSIDE  VIEWS   OF   MISSION   LIFE 

from  all  clistaDces  rouucl  about  to  the  uumbej-  of 
twecty-four.  There  were  two,  I  remember,  who 
walked  a  distauce  of  one  hundred  aud  fifty  miles. 
They  started  Monday  morning  and  came  trudg- 
ing in  toward  evening  on  Saturday,  looking 
weather-beaten  and  weary,  but  they  had  no  word 
of  complaint  to  make  of  the  long,  tiresome  way. 
As  one  feeble,  trembling  old  body,  who  had  also 
walked  far,  said,  "I  was  very  tired,  but  I  am  so 
glad  to  get  here  that  I  do  not  feel  it." 

It  has  become  an  old  story  now,  but  I  think  I 
had  never  up  to  that  time  enjoyed  any  ten  days 
more  than  those  we  spent  with  this  class.  We 
were  both  kept  busy,  for  Mrs.  Lee's  baby  was 
barely  six  weeks  old,  aud  my  help  in  the  kitchen 
was  a  green  womau  who  didn't  know  beans  when 
the  bag  was  open.  In  addition  to  instruction  in 
Scripture,  I  took  the  class  for  a  half  hour,  morn- 
ing aud  afternoon,  in  singing.  We  labored  espe- 
cially, I  remember,  over  ''Jesus,  I  my  cross  have 
taken,"  and  Mrs.  Lee  told  me  afterwards  that 
she  never  would  feel  discouraged  again  over  the 
ability  of  the  Koreans  to  learn  to  sing,  because 
as  she  listened  to  the  class — from  the  distance  of 
her  home,  a  few  steps  away — she  had  been  able 
to  recognize  the  tune  quite  easily  at  the  end  of 
the  teu  days  ! 

Who  could  have  foretold  then  that  thirteen 
years  later  this  feeble  beginning  would  have 
swelled  to  a  grand  total  for  the  year  of  one  hun- 

[82] 


HOW   BUSY   IS   THE   MISSIONARY? 

dred  and  tweuty-five  classes  for  womeu  through- 
out the  statiou  territory  ^  How  wonderful  have 
God's  thoughts  been  unto  us!  Of  this  whole 
number,  nineteen  classes  were  taught  wholly  or 
in  part  by  missionaries  in  person,  and  the  re- 
mainder by  women  whom  they  had  trained. 

In  March  also,  the  three  months'  session  of  the 
theological  seminary  begins.  In  1912  the  theol- 
ogues,  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  strong,  flocked 
into  the  city  from  all  directions,  anxious  to  be  in 
their  seats  at  the  opening  session.  The  teachers, 
too,  are  gathering  in  from  north,  south,  east  and 
west,  for  this  is  a  pan-Presbyterian  Seminary, 
being  carried  on  by  the  four  Presbyterian  bodies 
at  work  in  the  country. 

During  the  nine  years  of  its  existence,  a  total 
of  fifty-eight  men  have  been  graduated,  forty-eight 
of  whom  have  been  ordained  and  are  occupying 
positions  of  usefulness.  The  place  that  the  institu- 
tion is  taking  through  its  graduates  may  be  seen 
from  the  fact  that  it  has  representatives  in  eleven 
of  the  thirteen  provinces  of  Korea,  besides  mission- 
aries in  Manchuria,  Eussia  and  the  Isle  of  Quel - 
paerde.  The  teachers  are  all  busy  men  who  must 
lay  down  their  other  work  in  order  to  take  up 
their  duties  in  the  seminary,  and  this  accounts 
for  the  shortness  of  the  term.  The  plan  is  to 
lengthen  it  as  soon  as  a  faculty  can  be  pro- 
vided. 

During    this  month  the  long  session  of  the 

[83] 


INSIDE  VIEWS   OF   MISSION   LIFE 

Womeu's  Institute  begins  and  continues  for  two 
mouths  and  a  half.  Eighty-nine  women  were  in 
attendance  this  year.  The  mornings  are  occupied 
with  Bible  subjects,  the  afternoons  with  lectures, 
conferences  and  lessons  in  writing  and  the  first 
principles  of  arithmetic,  in  order  to  enable  the 
women  to  keep  account  of  books  received  and  sold, 
attendance  at  classes,  travel  expenses,  etc. 

May  has  been  our  month  for  graduations,  and 
a  very  busy  month  it  is  with  closing  examinations, 
baccalaureate  addresses,  commencement  exercises, 
alumni  meetings,  farewell  meetings,  etc.  Koreans 
love  pomi)  and  circumstance,  and  all  the  forms 
and  ceremonies  ijicideut  to  such  occasions  are 
greatly  to  their  liking.  Even  the  children  from 
the  primary  schools  are  "  graduated  "  with  huge 
diplomas  and  considerable  formal  display.  Last 
year  one  missionary  was  privileged  to  deliver 
an  even  one  hundred  diplomas  to  the  boys  and 
girls  from  the  city  primary  schools,  the  young 
men  and  women  of  the  academies  and  college, 
and  the  graduates  from  the  Normal  School  for 
primary  school-teachers.  After  commencement 
comes  the  usual  drudgery  incident  to  schools,  of 
examining  papers,  making  out  reports  to  be  sent 
to  each  pupil,  bringing  up  all  the  accounts  for  the 
year,  etc. 

From  the  middle  of  May  till  the  middle  of  June 
comes  the  language  school  for  the  new  additions 
to  the  missionary  force,  and  the  older  mission - 
[84] 


HOW   BUSY   IS   THE   MISSIONARY? 

aries  have  a  chance  to  feel  youug  again  iu  the 
presence  of  so  much  youth  aud  euthusiasm. 
Uncle  Eemus'  advice  to  "take  yo'  foot  in  yo' 
han'  "  here  comes  in  well,  for  if  any  of  the  older 
missionaries  are  inclined  to  rest  on  their  oars  in 
the  matter  of  the  language,  the  rapid  progress  of 
some  of  these  young  people  is  enough  to  remind 
them  that  the  race  is  not  always  to  the  first 
comers. 

In  June  comes  the  Normal  School  for  primary 
school-teachers,  those  humble  men  and  women, 
presiding  over  little  groups  of  boys  and  girls, 
crowded  into  ill- ventilated,  ill-lighted  rooms,  and 
scattered  all  over  our  territory.  In  1912  they 
numbered  one  hundred  and  eighty-six,  with  an 
attendance  of  thirty -seven  hundred  and  sixty-five, 
and  two  hundred  and  ninety-six  teachers. 

The  one  glimpse  for  these  men  and  women  of 
the  higher  possibilities  of  their  calling  has  come 
to  them  in  the  past  through  this  normal  class  of 
a  month.  Now  other  classes  of  a  similar  nature 
—under  the  direction  of  local  church  officers  and 
taught  in  many  cases  by  those  who  have  studied 
in  this  class,  or  by  academy  graduates— are  being 
held  throughout  the  country  districts. 

During  this  month  comes  the  Officers'  Class  for 
the  benefit  of  church  officers,  attended  last  year 
by  two  hundred  aud  thirty-four  men,  and  in  June 
we  must  make  up  our  personal  reports  for  the 
year,  to  be  presented  to  the  station,  from  which 

[85] 


INSIDE  VIEWS   OF   MISSION   LIFE 

is  made  up  the  station  report  to  be  presented  to 
the  mission  at  its  annual  meeting. 

The  station  medical  work,  although  it  means 
life  and  health  to  so  many,  is  like  death  in  that 
it  has  all  seasons  for  its  own.  Year  in  and  year 
out,  every  month  in  the  year  and  every  day  in 
the  month,  the  missionaiy  doctor  or  his  substitute 
must  be  at  his  post,  ready  to  answer  the  call  of 
distress.  Often  the  other  members  of  a  station, 
each  engrossed  in  his  own  particular  work,  have 
little  idea  of  the  strain  and  stress  that  comes  upon 
the  missionary  physician  in  his  daily  practice. 
In  many  cases  with  no  colleague  at  hand  with 
whom  he  may  counsel,  no  trained  nurse  to  assist, 
and  under  the  most  unfavorable  conditions,  hemust 
undertake  operations  which  only  specialists  in 
America  would  attempt.  His  situation  demands 
that  he  shall  be  a  specialist  in  every  line  of  med- 
ical endeavor,  and  unaided — except  by  God — he 
must  assume  responsibilities  involving  life  and 
death. 

Our  station  hospital  reports  an  attendance  for 
the  last  year  of  more  than  fifteen  thousand  pa- 
tients. All  these  were  taken  care  of  for  the 
sum  of  fifteen  hundred  dollars.  The  missionary 
doctor  has  a  wonderful  opportunity  to  influence 
grateful  patients,  and  that  the  chances  are  im- 
proved is  shown  by  the  report  from  one  mission 
hospital  of  a  total  of  six  hundred  and  twenty-six 
professed  conversions  during  the  year.     It  is  very 

[86] 


HOW   BUSY   IS   THE   MISSIONARY? 

true,  however — as  one  doctor  says  iu  bis  re- 
port— that  "tlie  results  of  such  work  cauuot 
be  shown  statistically."  Seed  is  sown  daily  that 
may  bear  fruit  later  on  and  in  some  unexpected 
place. 

•  A  large  proportion  of  the  general  activities  of 
the  station  goes  on  regardless  of  times  or  seasous. 
The  seven  city  churches  with  congregations  total- 
ing about  four  thousand,  while  very  largely  in 
the  hands  of  Koreans,  are  still  of  necessity  under 
missionary  oversight,  and  a  great  deal  of  time  is 
given  to  meetings  of  sessions,  trustees  and  com- 
mittees of  every  sort.  Sermons  must  be  prepared 
and  preached,  Sunday  schools  must  be  superin- 
tended and  classes  taught,  Thanksgiving  and 
Christmas  programs  must  be  arranged  for,  teach- 
ers' meetings,  meetings  of  school  boards  and  con- 
ferences with  leaders  from  the  country  districts 
must  be  held.  Outlines  must  be  made  out  and 
hours  of  study  given  to  preparation  for  the  end- 
less succession  of  classes.  Upon  the  teachers  in 
the  academies  and  the  college  falls  the  burden  of 
preparing  to  a  very  considerable  extent  the  text- 
books for  use  in  the  classrooms,  and  some  of  us 
must  strip  off  our  wings  for  the  time  being  and 
sit  down  for  long  months  to  the  task  of  working 
out  textbooks  from  the  English  into  Korean  on 
such  subjects  as  geography,  physical  geography, 
physics,  physiology,  botany,  zoology,  astronomy, 
etc.     Fortunate  it  is  that  the  pleasure  of  achieve- 

[87] 


INSIDE   VIEWS   OF   MISSION   LIFE 

ment  common  to  tlie  race,  added  to  the  pressing 
ueed,  can  make  even  such  work  a  joy. 

The  mission  and  station  machinery  may  move 
along  smoothly  and  effectively,  but  to  have  it  do 
so  means  time  and  work  on  the  part  of  all  con- 
cerned in  the  various  committees. 

The  question  at  the  beginning  of  this  chapter, 
as  to  why  we  do  not  keep  chickens,  cannot  be 
adequately  answered  without  mentioning  them. 
Situated  as  we  are,  on  the  through  railroad  line 
to  St.  Petersburg,  visitors  from  all  parts  of  the 
world,  not  to  speak  of  other  Korean  missionaries 
on  mission  business,  amount  to  a  very  consider- 
able number  in  the  course  of  the  year. 

July  and  August  bring  a  change  of  occupation. 
Only  the  regular  work  goes  on.  The  schools  are 
not  in  session  and  no  special  classes  are  called. 
The  heavy  rains  set  in  and  calls  from  our  Korean 
friends  are  infrequent.  This  is  a  good  time  for 
bringing  things  through  the  press  with  the  burden 
entailed  of  reading  proof;  or  for  attacking  the 
heap  of  unanswered  letters  that  reproach  us  when- 
ever we  open  our  desks,  some  of  them,  perhaps, 
from  dear  friends  and  supporters  of  missions, 
who  are  inclined  to  feel  almost  hurt  because  they 
hear  from  us  so  seldom ;  or  for  writing  that 
article  that  the  board  secretary  asked  us  for 
months  ago.  For  the  housekeepers  this  is  the 
time  for  putting  up  the  fruit  that  our  gardens 
yield  so  bountifully — strawberries,   raspberries, 

[88] 


HOW   BUSY   IS   THE   MISSIONARY? 

cnrrauts,  gooseberries,  cherries,  apples  aucl  pears. 
With  the  cousciousiiess  of  plenty  of  good  things 
prepared  iu  advance,  we  can  sit  down  at  the 
heads  of  our  big  tables  full  of  guests  at  annual 
meeting  time,  or  welcome  the  arrival  of  unex- 
pected visitors  from  New  Zealand  or  the  Aleutian 
Islands,  with  a  look  of  ease  that  is  not  assumed. 
This  is  a  good  time  of  year,  too,  for  getting  the 
sewing  done  for  the  children,  and  the  annual  re- 
pairs on  our  own  wardrobes. 

In  July  or  August  we  take  advantage  of  the 
rains  and  the  heat  to  get  away— if  we  can— for  a 
short  vacation.     The  favorite  Pyeng  Yang  sum- 
mer  resort  is  the  river.     We  secure  the  use  of 
one  of  the  native  freight  boats  for  a  week  or  a 
month,  as  the  case  may  be,  erect  upon  it  a  shack 
with  straw  roof,  walls  of  straw  mats  and  muslin, 
and  floors  of  rough  boards  covered  with  mats. 
One  end— partitioned  off  and  furnished  with  a 
charcoal  pot  and  a  supply  of  canned  food  and 
fresh  vegetables— answers  for  the  kitchen.    There 
are  folding  cots  for  the  older  people,  and  a  shake- 
down on  the  floor  does  for  the  children.     With  a 
crew  of  five  brawny,  half-naked  fellows  to  pull 
us  up  the  rapids  and  row  where  the  river  is  deep, 
we  start  off  for  a  week  or  two  of  enjoyment  of  the 
simple  life.     It  must  be  confessed  that  some  of 
the  less  conscientious  of  us  yield  to  temptation 
and  slip  in  a  Korean  dictionary  or  a  pile  of  un- 
answered letters  and  a  typewriter,  but  for  the 
[89] 


INSIDE  VIEWS   OF  MISSION   LIFE 

most  part  we  stock  up  on  books  aud  magaziDes 
tliat  we  have  uot  had  time  for  during  the  year. 
We  take  our  way  leisurely  along,  stopping  at  all 
the  sand  banks,  and  splashing  in  and  out  of  the 
water  at  will.  The  children  are  soon  able  to 
swim  like  so  many  ducks,  and  all  go  barefooted 
when  they  want  to,  regardless  of  age,  sex,  or 
previous  reputation  for  respectability.  For  one 
brief  while  we  break  away  from  the  tyranny  of 
the  clock.  We  go  to  bed  at  dark  and  sleep  as 
late  in  the  morning  as  the  mounting  sun  will 
allow.  When  the  season  is  good,  delicious  trout 
just  out  of  the  river  can  be  bought  for  a  few 
cents,  and  we  feast  on  them  three  times  a  day. 
Every  point  along  the  river  gets  to  be  familiar 
and  beloved.  Here  is  the  spot  w^here  the  baby 
fell  in  and  was  dived  after  so  quickly  by  the 
older  boys  that  he  hardly  had  time  to  strike  the 
water.  Here  are  the  Tiger  Eapids,  filling  the  air 
with  their  rush  and  roar.  If  our  towline  should 
break  now,  we  would  be  whirled  down  on  the 
rocks.  The  crew  are  in  the  water  up  to  their 
waists,  pulling  and  pushing  with  might  and 
main,  and  shouting  directions  which  nobody 
obeys.  Over  the  edge  of  the  boat  leaps  the 
missionary  with  the  boys  after  him,  and  they 
add  their  strength  to  that  of  the  straining  crew. 
A  long  pull  and  a  strong  pull,  and  we  are  past 
the  rocks  on  to  the  smooth,  lakelike  expanse 
beyond.     Here  is  old  Misty  Mountain,  the  highest 

[90] 


HOW   BUSY    IS   THE   MISSIONARY? 

point  of  all.  From  its  rocky  summit  we  see  the 
couutry  stretcliiug  away  in  every  direction,  moun- 
tains piled  on  mountains,  with  here  and  there 
the  silver  thread  of  the  river  winding  in  and  out. 
It  is  easy  to  see  now  why  Koreans  love  to  refer 
to  their  country  as  "Sam  Chun  Li  Kang  San  " 
(Three  Thousand  Li  of  Eivers  and  Mountains). 
A  li  is  the  Korean  measure  of  distance,  and  is 
about  one  third  of  a  mile.  Farther  on  is  the  big 
cave  with  the  ice-cold  spring,  and  here  we  come 
t^  the  little  recess  in  the  rocky  face  of  the  cliff 
where  the  hermit  lives.  Every  night  after  dark 
his  flickering  light  can  be  seen  creeping  along 
midway  of  the  cliff,  and  stopping  finally  at  the 
little  cave,  not  much  more  than  a  good -sized 
shelf,  where  he  keeps  his  lonely  vigils.  We 
have  visited  his  retreat  with  tracts  and  gospels 
but  never  found  him  at  home.  Our  laborious 
ai^proach  gives  him  plenty  of  warning,  and  it  is 
quite  likely  that  he  prefers  to  be  out  when  callers 
come.  Pinned  to  the  rocky  walls  of  the  little 
recess  are  prayers  scrawled  in  Chinese  on  bits  of 
tough  native  paper.  What  is  he  seeking  for? 
Doubtless  the  same  thing  that  all  the  rest  of  the 
world  wants — power  of  some  kind.  He  would 
like  to  be  able  to  turn  rocks  into  money  at  the 
touch,  or  to  transport  liimself  to  immense  dis- 
tances at  the  mere  expression  of  the  wish.  Oi"  he 
may  want  to  get  rid  of  bodily  ailments  or  to  be 
avenged  on  his  enemies.     Whatever  his  desire, 

[91] 


INSIDE  VIEWS   OF   MISSION   LIFE 

the  being  that  he  courts  is  the  Prince  of  Darkness 
and  Evil.  That  Good  can  be  stronger  than  Evil 
is  a  truth  that  enters  with  the  gospel. 

Often  crowds  of  wild,  rough-looking  moun- 
taineers hear  of  the  approach  of  our  fleet,  and 
come  down  to  the  river  to  have  a  ''  koo  kyung" 
(sight-see),  and  their  remarks  are  sometimes  in- 
teresting. "  What  makes  them  have  such  white 
skins?"  one  will  ask.  "  It's  because  they  drink 
cow's  milk,"  comes  the  ready  answer.  "Did 
you  ever  hear  of  anything  so  disgusting?  "  Or, 
"  Where  are  your  daughters-in-law  ?  "  This  ad- 
dressed to  the  mother  of  three  small  sons,  aged 
respectively  eight,  ten  and  twelve  years. 

Sometimes  our  Christian  friends  from  the  vil- 
lages near  by  come  to  see  us  with  the  gift  of  some 
crab  apples,  or  eggs  or  a  chicken,  and  the  request 
that  we  help  out  with  their  week-day  prayer  meet- 
ing or  the  Sunday  service. 

In  the  evenings  we  often  gather  in  a  circle  on  the 
sands  and  sing  hymns,  or  tell  stories  and  conun- 
drums and  play  games.  Or  we  renew  our  ac- 
quaintance with  the  summer  heavens  until  great 
blue  Vega  tells  us  by  bowing  with  slow  grace 
toward  the  west  that. we  ought  to  be  in  bed. 

So  the  days  go  by  till  a  growing  chill  in  the  air 
and  the  chirp  of  small  friends  in  the  grass  warn 
us  that  September  is  near  with  its  rush  of  meet- 
ings and  school  openings,  and  we  must  be  getting 
back  home  to  set  our  house  in  order  and  be  ready 

[92] 


HOW   BUSY   IS   THE   MISSIONARY? 

for  whatever  our  share  iu  the  general  activities 
may  be. 

It  would  be  Dice  to  keep  chickens  and  have  our 
own  home-grown  fries,  but  some  of  us  tried  it 
once,  and  discovered  that  to  make  a  success  of  it 
took  time  and  thought,  so  we  gave  it  up. 


[93] 


CHAPTER  IV 

MISSIONARY  DIVERSIONS,  COMMUNITY 
LIFE,  AND  SOME  OTHER  MATTERS 

A  CHAPTER  on  missiouaries  at  work  is  followed 
iu  natural  sequence  bj^  a  chapter  on  missionaries 
at  play — if,  indeed,  the  latter  subject  has  not  al- 
ready intruded  into  the  former  in  the  description 
given  of  our  summer  outings.  These  days  spent 
on  the  river  are  the  most  thoroughgoing  and 
protracted  play-spell  that  we  lake  in  Pyeng 
Yang,  but  they  are  not  our  only  hours  of  diver- 
sion. To  one  in  harmony  with  his  surroundings, 
at  rest  with  God,  himself  and  his  associates,  and 
in  a  country  like  Korea,  where  the  reward  of 
effort  is  so  speedy  and  bountiful,  the  work  itself 
is  a  constant  recreation.  The  tears  of  the  sower 
have  hardly  time  to  flow  till  they  are  mingled 
with  the  shouts  of  the  reaper. 

Many  comical  things  happen  in  our  daily  rela- 
tions with  our  people  which  an  ordinary  sense  of 
humor  easily  transmutes  in  to  relaxation.  Thestory 
has  been  told  many  times  of  how,  in  the  days  of  the 

first  bicycles  in  Korea,  Dr.  M was  rolling 

swiftly  along  one  day  when  he  met  a  farmer  lead- 
ing a  bullock.  Thinking  to  prevent  the  animal's 
[94] 


MISSIONARY   DIVERSIONS 

boltiDg  from  fright,  Dr.  M shouted,  ^'  Chap- 
para  !  Chappara!"  (Seize  him  !  Seize  him  !) 
The  farmer  seeiug  ouly,  as  he  thought,  a  foreigner 
helpless  in  the  grij)  of  a  mad  runaway  mouster, 
dropped  the  bullock's  halter  aud  manfully  sprang 
to  the  relief  of  the  missionary  !  There  was  fun 
in  that,  but  something  else  too.  It  illustrated 
the  strong  trait  of  altruism  in  the  Korean  make-up, 
which  has  helped  to  gain  easy  entrance  for  the 
gospel,  as  well,  perhaps,  as  the  disposition  to 
yield  to  authority  cultivated  in  the  lower  classes 
by  long  ages  of  servile  submission. 

Until  a  few  years  ago  the  wonder-working 
devices  of  the  dentist  were  entirely  unknown.  If 
teeth  were  troublesome  they  were  unceremoni- 
ously knocked  out,  aud  sufferers  from  facial 
neuralgia  often  parted  with  all  of  a  set  of  fine 
teeth  in  the  attempt  to  find  relief.     This  was  the 

f^ite  of  a  young  woman  named  Mrs.  E who 

used  to  attend  my  Sunday  school.  Her  friends 
aud  acquaintances,  in  frank  recognition  of  her 
toothless  condition,  added  "  ni  bachin  "  to  her 
name,    so    that    she   was   familiarly    known   as 

^'Mrs.  E Whose  Teeth  Are  Out."     But  one 

day  a  Japanese  dentist  opened  up  an  office,  and 

not  long   after,   Mrs.   E came  into  Sunday 

school  with  a  mouth  full  of  beautiful,  shining 
white  teeth.  The  opening  exercises  were  already 
in  progress,  but  everything  had  to  be  suspended 
while  she  w^ent  from  one  group  to  another  with 

[95] 


INSIDE  VIEWS   OF   MISSION   LIFE 

lips  spread  to  display  her  new  treasures  to  the 
excited  beholders.  ''  Are  they  comfortable'?  "  I 
asked.  "  Oh,  not  at  all,"  she  answered  in  a  tone 
of  perfect  resignation,  as  much  as  to  say,  ''  How 
could  anyone  expect  anything  so  beautiful  to  be 
comfortable  too  ?  "  She  told  me  afterwards  that 
she  always  took  them  out  when  she  ate,  as  they 
seemed  to  be  very  fragile. 

A  disposition  to  ways  that  are  dark  occasionally 
creeps  out,  and  we  have  an  opportunity  to  laugh 
first,  even  though  we  may  feel  obliged  to  frown 
later.  One  day,  after  my  Wednesday  afternoon 
Bible  class  was  over,  Mrs.  Sin,  the  old  deaconess, 
told  me  that,  the  day  before,  she  had  received  an 
urgent  message  from  Poong  Mai,  a  place  a  few 
miles  away,  to  come  at  once  and  cast  out  a  devil. 
Gathering  up  this  and  that  faithful  sister,  and 
armed  with  Bible  and  hymn  book,  they  set  out. 
Arrived  at  the  place  the  women  found  that  the 
family  consisted  of  a  mother  and  two  sous,  the 
elder  a  boy  of  eighteen  who  had  begun  to  show 
au  interest  in  Christianity,  and  had  attended 
church  services  in  Pyeng  Yang  for  several  suc- 
cessive Sundays.  The  mother,  seeing  the  drift  of 
things,  declared  that  ancestral  sacrifices  always 
had  been  offered  in  her  family,  and  always  would 
be,  and  she  would  have  no  son  who  was  otherwise 
minded.  Let  him  get  back  to  the  only  world  he 
knew  anything  about,  said  she,  and  do  according 
to  its  customs. 

[96] 


MISSIONARY   DIVERSIONS 

^'Very  well,  mother,"  said  the  boy  at  last, 
goaded  beyoud  endurance,  "  if  you  want  me  to  do 
according  to  the  fashion  of  this  world,  I  will. 
Hand  over  what  money  you  have  and  let  me  try 
my  hand  at  gambling."  Although  the  old  lady 
protested  that  that  sort  of  work  would  not  do 
at  all,  he  relieved  her  forcibly  of  all  her  spare 
cash,  and  hied  him  away  to  a  gambling  den, 
where  he  stayed  until  his  capital  was  reduced  to 
the  sum  of  three  poon  (about  three  fifths  of  a 
cent).  Eeturning  home  he  threw  himself  on  the 
floor  and  remained  there,  speechless  and  motion- 
less, for  Jiours.  Then  suddenly  his  whole  expres- 
sion changed,  his  face  grew  red  and  swollen,  and 
rushing  to  the  closet  where  the  devil-garments 
were  kept,  he  threw  oft  his  own  clothes,  arrayed 
himself  in  the  fantastic  garb  prepared  for  the  evil 
spirits,  and  running  out  to  a  plain  near  by,  he 
leaped  and  danced  and  shouted,  apparently  in 
the  full  sweep  of  demoniacal  frenzy.  His  poor 
old  mother  was  frightened  half  out  of  her  wits. 

"  Dear  me,"  she  cried,  '^  this  is  worse  than  the 
Jesus-believing  business.  If  he  is  going  to  act 
like  this  there  is  nothing  to  do  but  send  for  some 
of  the  Christians  to  cast  out  the  demon."  And 
this  was  the  word  which  had  reached  old  Sin  Ssi. 

When  the  women  reached  the  i^lace  they  found 
the  house  and  yard  full  to  overflowing  with  sight- 
seers, and  the  opportunity  was  immediately  seized 
upon  to  present  the  gospel.     While  they  talked, 

[97] 


INSIDE   VIEWS   OF   MISSION   LIFE 

read,  sang  and  prayed,  the  old  lady  sat  in  the 
corner  of  the  room,  too  frightened  and  anxious  to 
look  up,  but  the  sou  was  observed  to  cast  glances 
at  her  from  time  to  time,  at  the  same  time  sup- 
pressing a  disposition  to  smile. 

Presently  old  Sin  Ssi,  undercover  of  the  crowd, 
made  her  way  to  his  side  and  whispered  in  his 
ear,  "Take  fast  hold  of  Jesus  and  don't  let  go." 
"Is  letting  go  possible?"  was  the  quick  reply, 
aud  then  he  whispered  in  return  :  "  Don't  worry 
about  me.  I  haven't  got  any  devil.  I'm  just 
bringing  mother  around  to  my  way  of  thinking  !  " 

On  this  hint  the  rites  of  exorcism  were  brought 
to  a  close,  the  crowd  dispersed  and  the  women 
came  away,  feeling  a  comfortable  hope,  as  old 
Sin  Ssi  said,  that  the  family  would  all  become 
Christians  and  some  of  the  neighbors  as  well. 

Here  was  a  nice  question  of  morals  for  the 
Christian  teacher !  I  looked  hard  at  old  Sin  Ssi's 
countenance,  but  it  was  inscrutable.  She  neither 
excused  nor  condemned.  She  simply  told  the 
tale.  I  opened  my  mouth  to  say  something  on 
the  sin  of  deceit,  and  then  the  thought  came  to 
me  of  David  and  his  feint  of  madness,  and  of 
Elisha  and  how  he  misled  the  hosts  of  the  Syrians. 
It  came  not  with  any  idea  of  excusing  moral 
crookedness,  but  only  with  the  comforting"  reflec- 
tion that  doubtless  the  Maker  of  man  can  get 
glory  to  himself  even  yet  out  of  the  devious  ways 
of  his  creatures. 

[98] 


MISSIONARY   DIVERSIONS 

In  mission  stations  eomj)osed  of  a  very  few 
people,  where,  as  one  missionary  put  it,  nothing 
happens  but  the  meals,  the  question  of  keeping 
Jack  from  becoming  rather  a  dull  boj^  sometimes 
becomes  acute.  All  the  stunts  known  are  per- 
foi'med  until  everybody  knows  them  by  heait. 
If,  by  good  Providence,  jDleasant  country  roads 
are  within  reach,  they  can  be  utilized  for  daily 
promenades,  or  if  there  is  room  in  the  station, 
and  there  are  those  who  play  tennis,  a  tennis 
court  can  be  provided.  I  am  told  that  the  old 
temple  is  still  pointed  out  at  Moulmain  where 
Judson  and  his  wife  used  to  go  to  play  tag.  I 
wish  that  this  fact  might  have  been  mentioned  in 
his  biography.  It  is  a  pleasure  to  know  that  the 
^'prince  of  missionaries"  had  his  moments  of 
human  relaxation  like  the  rest  of  us. 

But,  even  after  we  have  done  all  we  can  to  enliven 
it,  life  in  a  small  mission  station  is  often  greatly 
lacking  in  vsLviety.  Seasoned  missionaries,  deep 
in  the  diversion  afforded  by  their  work,  care  little 
for  this  fact,  but  it  is  apt  to  be  hard  on  newcomers. 
It  is  a  good  thing  if  they  can  get  oft'  occasionally 
for  visits  to  other  stations,  and  move  around  for  a 
while  in  another  orbit,  if  not  in  a  different  orbit. 
Bat  the  best  prop  that  one  can  build  up  for  him- 
self under  such  circumstances  is  to  lay  fast  liold 
on  God's  promises,  and  resolutely  cultivate  a 
cheerful  spirit  that  extracts  sunshine  from  all 
conditions.     The  only  thing  absolutely  essential 

[99] 


INSIDE  VIEWS   OF  MISSION   LIFE 

to  the  liappiuess  of  auy  of  us  is  the  presence  of 
God,  and  that  may  be  had  for  the  taking. 

Where  the  mission  community  is  larger,  the 
problem  is  comparatively  easy.  Here  in  Pyeng 
Yang,  with  a  community  of  forty  grown  people 
and  twenty-five  children,  there  is  apt  to  be 
enough  diversion  to  keep  us  all  from  forgetting 
how  to  laugh.  AVhen  anyone  goes  on  furlough 
we  get  together  and  give  what  one  small  person 
calls  "the  i)arting  kick."  The  program  on  such 
occasions  is  apt  to  consist  of  a  series  of  take-offs 
representing  our  departing  friends  as  they  will 
appear  in  America,  arrayed  in  garments  of  long- 
forgotten  style,  and  making  frantic  efforts  to  keep 
out  of  the  way  of  trolley  cars  and  automobiles. 
Sometimes  (this  is  confessed  in  the  hope  of  for- 
giveness) even  our  much -respected  board  secre- 
taries and  other  dignitaries  are  drafted  in  from 
the  distance  of  thousands  of  miles  to  contribute 
to  our  fun. 

Wlien  our  friends  return  from  furlough  we  are 
apt  to  give  them  a  welcome  reception,  or  as  it  is 
sometimes  called,  a  pumping  party,  at  which  they 
are  expected  to  relate  the  experiences,  not  grave, 
but  gay,  of  the  year.  We  hear  at  such  times  of 
people  who  thought  that  Korea  is  a  town  in 
northern  Michigan,  or  one  of  the  central  Amer- 
ican states,  and  of  others  who  express  astonish- 
ment at  the  appearance  of  the  little  towheads  of 
the  family,  having  expected  that  since  they  were 
[  100  ] 


MISSIONARY   DIVERSIONS 

born  iu  Koi-ea,  they  would  be  oriental  in  color 
and  cast  of  countenance.  We  quiz  the  returned 
travelers  with  regard  to  the  trend  of  things  in 
church  and  state,  and  one  of  our  number  always 
used  to  ask  what  the  latest  slang  was,  although 
he  was  never  known  to  use  slang  himself.  Per- 
haps it  was  the  very  horror  of  the  subject  that 
excited  in  him  a  morbid  curiosity. 

On  Christmas  Eve  we  have  our  suppers  to- 
gether and  Santa  Claus  appears  in  a  rig  which 
fills  the  youthful  beholders  with  awful  delight. 
On  the  Fourth  of  July  we  spread  a  picnic  supper 
on  the  grass  and  listen  to  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, and  a  patriotic  speech,  if  we  can  get  any- 
one to  deliver  it,  prefaced  and  followed  by  fire- 
crackers. On  any  of  these  festive  occasions  the 
community  poet  is  likely  to  drop  into  verse,  and 
sometimes  we  have  charades  at  which  mission- 
aries, who  have  been  accustomed  to  pass  with  the 
uninitiated  as  "awfully  solemn,'^  exhibit  an  un- 
expected weakness  for  fun,  or  break  out  on  the 
spur  of  the  moment  into  astonishing  exhibitions 
of  histrionic  talent. 

At  the  end  of  the  term  our  little  community 
school  gives  exhibitions  on  the  order  of  similar 
occasions  at  home,  and  we  listen  with  just  the 
same  pleased  attention  to  our  children's  rendi- 
tions of  "Old  Ironsides  at  Anchor  Lay,"  or 
"Curfew  Shall  Not  Ring  To-Night,"  as  parents 
do  in  the  homeland. 

[  101  ] 


INSIDE   VIEWS   OF   MISSION    LIFE 

Our  children  here  in  Pyeug  Yang,  with  their 
little  school  and  country  surroundings,  live  a 
normal  and  happy  life.  They  have  their  pleas- 
ures and  rightful  interests,  as  the  following  notice 
sent  around  the  community  a  few  days  ago  illus- 
trates : 


GBAND  AGRICULTURAL  EXHIBITION! 

At  the  Foreign  School 
Thursday  afternoon  at  Jf  o'clock. 

STUPENDOUS  CELEBRATION! 

The  children  who  planted  things  in  the  spring 
will  exhibit  them  in  competition  to-morrow. 
Come  and  see  the  result  of  their  efforts. 

Besides  the  exhibits  of  the  children  the  entire 
community  is  requested  to  exhibit  any  garden  or 
farm  truck  they  may  have  laised,  in  any  way, 
shape  or  manner,  and  blue  ribbons  will  be  given 
for  the  best,  red  for  the  second  best. 

The  exhibits  must  be  in  to-night.  ISiO  entries 
received  after  1:15  Thursday. 

Rules  :—Th<i  exhibits  must  be  marked  by  num- 
bers, not  by  names.  Anything  that  grows  in  our 
yards,  from  chestnuts  to  hoise- radish,  should  be 
exhibited. 

The  Exhibition  Opens  Promptly  at  4  p.m., 
Thursday.  Admission  Free  to  All  Who 
Like  Children  or  Vegetables. 

By  order  of  Committee. 
[102] 


MISSIONARY    DIVERSIONS 

This  notice  reveals  the  fact  that  interest  in 
our  yards  and  gardens,  or  compounds  as  we  call 
them  out  here,  is  not  confined  to  the  children. 
In  fact,  after  the  work  itself,  they  constitute  the 
greatest  diversion  we  have.     We  are  more  hap- 
pily situated  than  many  missionaries  in  having 
our  houses  set,  each  oue,  in  the  midst  of  a  small 
piece  of  ground,  so  that  our  householders  have 
the  privilege,  like  Goldsmith's  hero,  of  combin- 
iug  in  themselves  the  "three  greatest  characters 
on'' earth,  those  of  priest,  farmer  and  head  of  a 
family."     To  put  the  dull  seed  in  the  earth  and 
watch  it  come  up  in  all  the  glory  of  bud,  leaf, 
flower  and  fruit,  to  watch  the  apple  tree  working 
so  swiftly  and  noiselessly  in  the  transformation 
of  earth,  air  and  water  into  the  fall  crop  of  lus- 
cious fruit,  does  much  to  keep  us  in  touch  with 
the  original  garden,  besides  supplying  our  tables 
w^ith  real  luxuries  at  comparatively  cheap  rates. 
The  Koreans  are  beginning   to   appreciate  the 
superiority  of  American  fruits,  grains  and  vege- 
tables over  their  own,  and  are  forwarding  through 
the  missionaries  orders  for  considerable  amounts 
to  leading  seed  houses  in  America. 

When  winter  comes  and  the  little  river  just 
back  of  our  houses,  and  the  big  river  not  more 
than  a  mile  away,  are  both  frozen  many  inches 
deep  and  the  hillsides  packed  hard  with  ice  and 
snow,  the  joyous  season  of  skating  and  coasting 
sets  in,  and  children  of  an  older  growtfi  look  on 
[103] 


INSIDE   VIEWS   OF   MISSION   LIFE 

with  euvious  eyes.  Sometimes  they  are  tempted 
to  forget  their  years  aud  dignity.  Ouce  ui^ou  a 
time  (this  happened  a  long  time  ago, — we  are 
more  staid  now)  a  busy  whisper  circled  around 

to  the  effect  that  Mrs.  Z ,  a  respectable  matron 

approaching  middle  age,  had  been  seen  perched 
upon  a  coaster  behind  her  youug  son,  aud  flyiug 
down  the  hill  iu  front  of  her  house  at  lightning 
speed.  The  deed  was  said  to  have  been  perpe- 
trated at  dusk  aud  in  her  own  yard,  but  in  spite 
of  these  extenuating  circumstances  we  were  all 
disposed  to  feel  a  good  deal  scandalized.  A  few 
days  later  as  we  wended  our  way  to  the  place  of 
our  afternoon  prayer  meeting,  we  passed  the  hill- 
side where  the  children  were  coasting,  aud  caught 
a  fellow  missionary  (he  was  a  newcomer)  in  the 
act  of  taking  what  the  boys  called  a  "belly- 
bumper"  down  the  hill,  his  long  legs  streaming 
out  behind.  We  turned  our  eyes  away  from  the 
sight  and  went  on  into  the  meeting.  Another 
missionary,  a  veteran  this  time,  came  in  late  and 
with  the  tails  of  his  coat  showing  undeniable 
signs  of  having  been  dragged  through  the  snow. 
The  meeting  was  carried  along  and  brought  to  a 
close  with  the  usual  decorum,  but  there  was  a 
rush  Immediately  afterwards  for  the  coasting 
place,  aud  a  moment  later  a  blue  streak  of  de- 
moralized missionaries  might  have  been  seen 
whizzing  down  the  hill  and  away  off  on  the  level 
field  beyond.  It  was  a  sort  of  midwinter  mad- 
[104] 


MISSIONARY   DIVERSIONS 

ness  tliat  overtook  us.  One  gray-haired  person 
was  heard  to  reuiark  that  slie  had  not  had  so 
much  fun  since  she  was  a  girl. 

At  annual  meeting  time  or  when  the  theo- 
logical seminary  is  in  session  with  its  visiting 
professors,  the  devotees  of  baseball  take  advan- 
tage of  the  presence  of  a  sufficient  number  in 
the  community  to  get  up  games  afternoons  w^hen 
the  day's  work  is  over,  and  enthusiasm  runs  high 
while  the  season  lasts.  The  theologues  often  take 
part ;  in  fact,  all  Koreans  take  up  with  games 
with  the  greatest  enjoyment.  There  are  not 
many  things  indirectly  connected  with  our  mis- 
sionary efforts  that  gives  me  more  pleasure  than 
the  thought  that  we  have  been  able  to  open  up 
to  the  Koreans  the  possibility  of  having  honest, 
clean  fan. 

In  communities  which  are  shared  by  other  for- 
eigners, such  as  diplomatic  corps,  customs  offi- 
cials, merchants,  etc.,  the  question  as  to 'how 
much  a  missionary  should  participate  in  the 
little  whirl  of  social  functions  that  is  apt  to  pre- 
vail, often  becomes  a  very  nice  one.  No  one 
enjoys  being  considered  a  sort  of  hermit,  the 
possessor  of  a  long-faced  piety  that  frowns  upon 
harmless  gayeties,  yet  how  to  join  in  at  all  and 
not  be  carried  to  a  point  where  time,  strength 
and  money  are  absorbed  to  an  undue  degree,  has 
puzzled  many  a  missionary.  Judson,  at  one  time 
in  his  life,  found  the  difficulty  of  preserving  a 

[  105  ] 


INSIDE  VIEWS   OF   MISSION   LIFE 

middle  course  so  great  that  he  withdrew  alto- 
gether from  all  social  functions.  The  sacrifice 
which  this  entailed  to  one  possessing  the  brilliant 
social  gifts  which  are  said  to  have  been  his  must 
have  been  very  great,  yet  if  it  was  the  price  of 
his  highest  usefulness  as  a  missionary,  it  was 
doubtless  willingly  paid. 

Any  and  all  legitimate  ways  of  finding  relaxa- 
tion, and  a  change  from  the  ordinary  routine, 
answer  an  excellent  purpose  in  the  missionary 
regime.  People,  who  in  the  give  and  take  of 
daily  life  have  been  tempted  to  mutual  coldness 
and  grudge- bearing,  have  been  known  with  one 
look  straight  into  each  other's  eyes  and  a  hearty 
laugh  to  dispel  all  such  mists  and  fogs  for  good. 
Of  course  it  is  possible,  as  said  already,  to  overdo 
social  occasions,  to  have  them  too  often,  or  make 
too  elaborate  preparations  for  them,  or  even  in 
the  course  of  the  fun  to  descend  dangerously  near 
to  the  verge  of  rowdyism,  but  the  employment 
of  an  ordinary  sense  of  propriety  ought  to  pre- 
vent these  things,  and  we  can  find  in  such  occa- 
sions great  exercise  for  that  merriness  of  heart, 
which,  according  to  excellent  authority,  ''doelh 
good  like  a  medicine,"  and  constitutes  "a  con- 
tinual feast." 

The  life  of  a  small  community  like  ours  is  very 
much,  I  fancy,  such  as  exists  under  pioneer  con- 
ditions anywhere.  "Little  kindnesses''  are  not 
"left  undone  or  despised."     One  year  when  I 

[106] 


MISSIONARY   DIVERSIONS 

was  particularly  busy  with  the  mouth  of  lauguage 
teachiug  which  happeued  to  fall  to  my  lot,  in 
came  a  basket  of  bottled  grape  juice  with  the  iu- 
juuctiou  to  take  it  between  meals  lest  I  become 
overtired.  When  a  farewell  reception  was  given 
to  one  of  our  number,  and  a  paper  was  sent 
around  to  the  housekeepers  asking  for  contribu- 
tions to  the  refreshments,  my  name  was  omitted, 
as  I  afterwards  learned,  because  of  the  extra  work 
I  was  doing  at  the  time.  These  are  little  things, 
but  they  serve  to  make  life  sweet.  We  know  no 
distinctions,  denominational  or  otherwise.  Our 
mutual  joys  and  sorrows  are  shared  to  an  extent 
that  dwellers  at  other  than  the  outposts  of  civi- 
lization or  Christian  progress  have  long  ceased  to 
know.  If  one  of  our  number  falls  ill,  everyone 
else  is  ready  with  offers  of  assistance  by  day  or 
night.  What  each  one  has  is  at  the  disposal  of 
every  other  one  as  need  may  require,  and  when 
trying  circumstances  arise,  we  sustain  each  other 
as  best  we  can.  I  well  remember  our  last  expe- 
rience with  the  river  steam  launch  in  the  days 
when  our  choice  of  ways  to  reach  Seoul  was  to  go 
overland  on  foot  or  pack  pony,  a  week's  journey, 
or  by  unspeakably  dirty  and  uncomfortable  coast 
steamers,  thrust  into  a  hole  under  the  deck  with 
a  crowd  of  individuals  of  both  sexes  and  any  na- 
tionality, the  ceiling  so  low  that  only  the  children 
could  stand  upright,  and  without  food,  bedding 
or  toilet  arrangements  of  any  kind,  except  as  we 
[107] 


INSIDE  VIEWS   OF   MISSION   LIFE 

suj)plied  these  ourselves.  If  all  went  well  this 
journey  lasted  about  two  days.  If  the  weather 
was  rough,  it  was  known  to  last  nine  days.  On 
the  occasion  I  speak  of,  we  had  made  the  trip  to  and 
from  the  annual  meeting  in  much  greater  com- 
fort than  ever  before,  and  had  reached  the  last 
stage  of  the  home  journey,  a  couple  of  hours  on 
the  river  steam  launch  from  the  port  up  to  Pyeng 
Yang.  But  something  went  wrong  and  night 
overtook  us,  at  a  standstill  in  the  middle  of  the 
river,  about  thirty  miles  from  home.  There  were 
thirteen  grown  people  in  the  party  and  six  chil- 
dren. The  boat  was  very  small  with  accommoda- 
tions only  for  day  passengers.  It  was  October 
and  the  nights  were  chilly.  We  made  out  some 
sort  of  supper  from  the  scraps  remaining  in  our 
luncheon  baskets,  and  prepared  to  pass  the  night 
as  comfortably  as  possible.  The  children  were 
laid  away  on  a  narrow  shelf  which  ran  around  one 
end  of  the  cabin  and  the  ladies  in  a  tight  row  on 
the  floor  at  this  end,  with  their  feet  toward  the 
center  of  the  room,  and  the  men  in  a  similar  row 
at  the  other  end,  with  the  most  venerable  pair  in 
the  company  (none  of  us  were  much  over  forty) 
constituting  a  partition  wall  between.  This  pair 
was  heard  to  remark  the  next  morning,  by  the 
way,  that  they  had  never  been  so  thoroughly 
kicked  by  their  fellow  missionaries  as  during  the 
course  of  that  night.  The  overflow  disposed 
themselves  as  best  they  could,  one  on  a  heap  of 
[108] 


MISSIONARY   DIVERSIONS 

mail  sacks  iu  a  little  hallway  about  three  feet 
square,  another,  a  Doctor  of  Diviuity,  ou  a  ledge 
outside  where  he  had  just  room  for  himself  aud  a 
basket  contaiuiug  two  little  Maltese  kittens  and 
a  can  of  condensed  milk,  the  latter  of  which  he 
administered  at  regular  hours  with  the  aid  of  a 
spoon,  to  the  great  satisfaction  of  the  former. 

The  night  passed  some  way.  The  older  children 
rolled  off  at  intervals  from  their  shelf  upon  the 
prostrate  forms  below.  One  mother  sat  up  most 
of  the  night  and  held  a  child  who  seemed  in  mo- 
mentary danger  of  choking.  Morning  dawned 
with  a  heavy  fog  and  everybody  stiff  and  chilled. 
But  one  good  sister,  with  a  natural  instinct  for 
making  other  people  comfortable,  cleared  space 
enough  to  start  an  alcohol  lamp,  and  soon  had  us 
all  warmed  up  with  a  cup  apiece  of  hot  cocoa, 
and  a  few  hours  later  we  were  at  home.  It  seems 
rather  remarkable,  as  I  look  back  at  it  now,  that 
nobody  was  cross.  Not  even  a  difference  of  opin- 
ion arose,  except  a  very  mild  difference  as  to  the 
merits  of  whole  wheat  bread. 

Before  the  time  came  to  go  to  Seoul  again,  the 
Japanese  were  here  with  their  good  railroad  run- 
ning from  one  end  of  the  country  to  the  other, 
and  the  worst  of  anything  in  a  physical  way  that 
could  be  called  hardship  was  a  thing  of  the 
past. 

The  two  denominations  represented  here,  Pres- 
byterian and   Methodist  Episcopal,   have  never 

[109] 


INSIDE  VIEWS   OF   MISSION   LIFE 

beeu  like  aiiytliiug  but  a  big  kioclly  famil}^  iu 
their  mutual  relatious.  People  can  hardly  meet 
together  year  after  year  in  Sunday  services,  weekly 
prayer  meetings,  and  Bible  conferences,  and  sit 
by  each  other's  sick  beds,  and  help  to  lay  away 
the  dead  forms  of  each  other's  dear  ones,  and  still 
maintain  the  fiction  that  the  differences  existing 
between  them  of  dogma  and  church  government, 
constitute  an  impassable  barrier.  True,  there  are 
occasional  moments  of  stress  when  those  of  each 
denomination  are  likely  to  wag  their  respective 
heads,  and  afSrm  that  the  folks  on  the  other  side 
are  splendid  good  people  if  they  could  only  con- 
trol their  Korean  helpers,  or  if  they  did  not  use  so 
much  money  in  the  work,  or  if  they  did  not  want 
to  claim  the  whole  earth,  but  when  it  comes  to 
the  point  of  practical  cooperation,  nobody  is 
found  seriously  wanting.  Practical  comity  iu 
territorial  relations  had  its  origin  here,  and  it  w^as 
on  the  proposition  of  union  in  the  Pyeng  Yang 
College  and  Academy,  made  by  the  Presbyterians 
to  the  Methodists  five  years  ago,  that  the  move- 
ment toward  federation  and  cooperation,  which 
has  since  spread  so  rapidly  through  the  country, 
had  its  birth.  Union  of  workers  always  calls  for 
self-effacement,  a  willingness  to  step  down  from 
leadership,  to  lose  oneself,  if  need  be,  in  the  larger 
number.  It  calls  for  a  certain  breadth  and  gen- 
erousness  of  vision,  which  is  able  to  account  the 
ultimate  good  of  the  whole  as  of  more  importance 

[110] 


MISSIONARY   DIVERSIONS 

thau  the  preseut  advantage  to  auy  oue  section. 
The  spirit  of  a  partisan  and  a  genuine  willingness 
to  cooperate  with  others  cannot  very  well  dwell 
together  in  the  same  bosom.  It  is  wonderful  to 
note  how  God  is  enabling  people  not  only  here  in 
our  small  country,  but  the  world  over,  to  break 
the  shell  of  sectarianism  and  come  out  into  a  larger 
room.  Surely  it  means  the  hastening  of  that  good 
time  of  the  coming  of  his  kingdom. 


[Ill] 


CHAPTEE  Y 

MISSIONARY  JOYS 

It  is  to  be  presumed  that  Dot  many  people  seek 
the  mission  field  with  the  idea  of  leceiviDg  com- 
]3eusation  beyond  a  living  wage  for  their  labors, 
other  than  that  word  of  approval  which  we  all 
hope  for  from  the  lips  of  the  Master.  But  in  Korea 
God  has  been  very  gracious  in  the  matter  of  re- 
wards. They  begin  to  iDOur  in  on  us  from  the 
moment  that  we  arrive  in  the  warm  welcome 
granted  us  by  our  people,  and  they  are  not  want- 
ing in  any  line  of  service. 

The  way  of  the  itinerator  might  be  called  in 
some  respects  a  weary  way.  He  reaches  the 
journey's  end  perhaps  after  a  long,  uncomfortable 
trip.  The  notice  announcing  his  coming  has 
miscarried  and  his  people  are  not  expecting  him. 
The  room  is  cold  and  the  native  fireplace  refuses 
to  fire  up  without  the  accompaniment  of  stifling 
smoke.  But  the  word  of  his  arrival  soon  reaches 
all  in  the  village,  and  people  pour  in  with  all 
sorts  of  hospitable  offers.  Presently,  when  he  is 
as  comfortable  as  his  friends  can  make  him  out 
of  their  poverty,  they  all  sit  down  on  the  floor 
together,  priest  and  people,  and  then  the  wonder- 

[112] 


MISSIONARY  JOYS 

fill  life  stories  begin  to  come  out.  Mrs.  Ok,  a 
pleasaut-faced  girl,  presents  herself,  with  her 
husband,  a  number  of  years  older  than  herself. 
He  had  accepted  Christ,  and  she  had  followed  his 
examiDle,  some  years  before,  greatly  to  the  dis- 
pleasure of  his  parents,  with  whom  they  lived. 
When  Sunday  came  the  old  folks  would  strip 
them  of  their  clothes  or  send  them  off  without 
breakfast  for  their  walk  of  several  miles  to  churcli. 
They  did  not  mind  the  trip  goiug,  Mrs.  Ok  said, 
but  on  the  way  back  they  were  sometimes  very 
faint.  Day  after  day  they  were  hariied  until  she 
would  say  to  her  husband  :  "  Let's  give  Jesus  up. 
He  brings  us  nothing  but  trouble."  But  he 
would  answer,  "Even  though  we  die  we  can't 
let  Jesus  go."  AVhen  the  persecution  could  no 
longer  be  borne  they  left  home,  her  hand  in 
his  with  nothing  in  the  world  but  each  other  aud 
the  Saviour.  A  rich  man  in  a  neighboring  com- 
munity offered  to  board  them  for  their  serv- 
ices, and  in  one  way  and  another  the  Lord  pros- 
pered them.     Praises  to  his  Name  ! 

The  itiuerator  learns  of  old  Mother  Kim, 
through  long  years  making  daily  wearisome 
pilgrimages  to  a  Buddhist  temj)le,  and  spending 
all  her  waking  moments  in  mumbled  prayer  : 
"  Na  moo  AmitaBool,  Na  moo  Amita  Bool  "  (I 
put  my  trust  in  Amita  Buddha).  One  day  two 
believing  brethren  made  their  way  to  her  house 
and  opened  up  to  her  darkened  old  mind  the 
[113] 


INSIDE   VIEWS   OF   MISSION    LIFE 

main  facts  of  the  gospel.  She  was  more  than 
eighty  years  old,  yet  she  seized  on  the  words 
presented  her  as  the  truth  of  God.  Spiritual 
sight  was  given  her  and  she  saw  that  the  objects 
of  her  lifelong  worship  were  vain  and  foolish. 
Her  house  was  full  of  idols  of  every  sort.  She 
tore  them  fi'om  their  nesting  places  and  threw 
them  out  of  the  door,  and  for  the  three  weeks  of 
life  that  remained  to  her  her  steps  were  turned 
from  the  Buddhist  temple  to  the  house  of  God. 
Then  one  night  the  heavenly  messenger  came 
for  her — so  old  in  mortal  years,  so  young  in  the 
kingdom — and  at  the  moment  of  her  passing 
from  earth  the  neighboi-s  outside  saw  with  wonder 
something  like  a  slender  shaft  of  fire  reaching 
from  the  straw  roof  of  her  hut  up  into  fathomless 
space.  *'  No  one  could  help  believing  after  that," 
the  narrator  concludes. 

Two  good  old  women,  not  able  for  much  active 
work,  but  ever  ready  to  spread  the  Good  News, 
tell  of  a  woman  in  a  neighboring  community  to 
whom  they  had  tried  to  explain  the  gospel.  She 
was  middle-aged  and  very  ignorant,  and  not  much 
that  they  said  was  clear  to  her,  but  it  ''  sounded 
good,"  and  she  was  inclined  to  think  that  it  might 
be  true,  when  she  fell  very  sick.  All  her  rela- 
tives were  heathen  and  would  not  allow  the  Chris- 
tians to  enter  the  house.  She  was  dying  and  for 
some  time  was  thought  to  be  dead.  Then  she 
revived  and  told  the  family  gathered  around  her 

[114] 


MISSIONARY  JOYS 

that  she  had  had  a  dream.  She  had  been  to  the 
gate  of  heaven,  when  Jesus  met  her  and  asked 
why  she  had  come  unprepared,  her  sins  uufor- 
giveu,  her  clothing  in  rags.  She  had  no  answer 
to  make,  and  she  woke  to  find  that  a  few  moments 
of  time  were  still  left  her.  She  said  to  those 
around  her  :  ''I  cannot  see  the  Christians  again, 
and  I  cannot  remember  all  that  they  tried  to 
teach  me  about  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  and  how 
to  prepare  my  soul  for  the  future  life,  but  I  will 
do  the  best  I  can.  At  least  I  will  be  clean." 
And  much  to  the  consternation  of  her  attendants, 
who  knew  on  the  authority  of  all  the  ancients 
that  to  bathe  a  sick  person  meant  sure  death,  she 
insisted  on  having  a  bath.  Her  hair  was  neatly 
combed  and  dressed  and  she  was  clad  in  her 
burial  robes,  which  were  new  and  clean.  For 
several  hours  she  rested  comfortably  and  then 
passed  quietly  away.  As  long  as  she  was  con- 
scious she  was  praying  in  a  low  voice  :  ''Jesus, 
forgive  my  sins.  Jesus,  teach  me  the  way.  Open 
the  gate  and  let  me  enter  in."  Her  friends  re- 
lented and  would  have  sent  for  the  Christians, 
but  it  was  midnight  and  very  stormy.  The 
woman  who  told  the  story  said,  "Oh,  if  only  one 
of  us  might  have  been  there  to  show  her  the  way 
and  comfort  her  !  "  But  the  missionary,  listening 
with  wet  eyes,  felt  sure  that  the  Good  Shepherd 
had  been  with  her  and  she  had  not  needed  any 
other  guide. 

[115] 


INSIDE   VIEWS   OF   MISSION    LIFE 

The  itinerator's  helper  tells  him  of  a  ten  days' 
contest  with  demons  through  which  he  and  others 
of  the  church  leaders  have  j  ust  passed.  A  young 
fellow  in  the  neighborhood,  becoming  possessed 
of  an  evil  spirit,  had  roamed  naked  about  the 
hills,  tearing  up  the  earth  from  his  father's  grave. 
The  church  fathers  gathered  about  him  and 
offered  prayer  without  ceasing  for  his  relief,  and 
on  the  tenth  day,  after  a  mighty  struggle,  the 
devils  left  him  and  he  was  restored  to  his  right 
mind. 

In  the  company  is  Mrs.  Yang,  who  until  a  few 
months  ago,  every  Sunday,  walked  a  distance  of 
seven  miles  to  church,  carrying  on  her  back  her 
helpless  daughter,  a  girl  of  fourteen.  They  were 
full  of  praise  and  beguiled  the  way  with  hymns. 
Now  the  daughter,  who  for  three  years  had  been 
unable  to  walk,  is  entirely  well,  "not  merely  well 
enough  to  go  to  church,"  her  mother  says,  ''but 
able  for  all  the  active  duties  of  life.  Hananimeui 
eunhei  yo  "  (It  is  all  of  God's  grace). 

If  the  itinerator  is  new  and  unversed  in  God's 
dealings  with  his  little  ones  in  the  Orient,  he 
may  express  incredulity  at  some  of  these  stories, 
but  no  experienced  missionar^^  does  so.  Such 
instances  in  every  variety  of  form  come  from  too 
many  quarters  to  be  altogether  the  work  of  the 
imagination.  Making  all  due  allowance  for  the 
oriental  disposition  to  exaggerate,  there  still  ex- 
ists a  large  residuum  of  truth  which  cannot  be 
[116] 


MISSIONARY  JOYS 

gainsaid.  God  is  still  mighty,  and  to-day  in 
Korea  he  works  out  his  miracles  of  healing  and 
of  demon  expulsion,  and  grants  other  visible  man- 
ifestations of  his  presence  as  in  the  days  when 
Christ  walked  among  men ;  and  for  the  same 
reason.  Knowing  the  low  estate  of  his  little  ones, 
their  ignorance,  their  vicious  surroundings,  their 
exclusion  from  the  ordinary  helps  to  faith,  does 
it  not  seem  that  he  is  unwilling  one  of  them 
should  perish  for  lack  of  an  experimental  demon- 
stration of  his  love  and  power  ? 

When  at  last  the  itinerator  is  left  to  himself — 
which  is  not  soon,  for  apparently  his  visitors 
would  like  to  sit  up  all  night  with  him — he  retires 
to  rest  on  his  folding  cot  and  gets  what  sleep  he 
can  considering  the  presence  of  a  motherly  old 
hen  in  the  corner  of  the  room  with  a  brood  of 
chicks  just  out  of  the  shell,  and  a  couple  of  po- 
nies a  few  steps  away,  who  entertain  a  nipping 
and  squealing  dislike  for  each  other,  not  to  speak 
of  swarms  of  vermin.  Bright  and  early  in  the 
morning  he  hears  his  people  in  the  courtyard, 
and  they  all  go  over  to  the  little  church,  built 
since  he  was  there  before,  and  exhibited  with 
such  pride  and  affection.  Every  cent  for  its 
erection  was  contributed  by  the  people  them- 
selves. Men  and  women  alike  worked,  the  men 
with  saw  and  hammer,  adze  and  plane,  the 
women  carrying  on  their  heads  all  the  floor 
boards  and  the  tiles  for  the  roof  a  distance  of 

[117] 


INSIDE   VIEWS   OF   MISSION    LIFE 

more  than  three  miles.  Young  matrons  of  twenty 
and  old  women  of  sixty,  some  of  whom  had  never 
ventured  so  far  before  in  their  lives  or  been 
accustomed  to  carrying  burdens,  trudged  back 
and  forth  with  their  loads,  and  there  was  such  a 
crowd  of  them,  and  they  were  all  so  full  of  eager 
joy,  that  all  was  accomplished  in  a  few  hours. 

The  missionary  has  a  busy  day  before  him. 
Candidates  for  entrance  to  the  catechumenate 
must  be  examined,  and  catechumens,  who  have 
been  waiting  for  months  or  even  longer  for  en- 
trance into  the  church,  must  be  catechised  and 
passed  upon  as  to  their  fitness.  Sometimes  there 
are  defections  and  lapses  into  grievous  sin  in 
quarters  where  it  was  least  expected,  and  the 
missionary  is  called  upon  to  pass  sentence  of 
discipline  upon  those  whom  he  has  loved  and 
trusted.  The  human  element  always  looms  large 
with  all  its  frailty  and  possibility  of  error.  Yet 
I  have  no  question  but  that  God,  whose  love  is  so 
much  broader  than  the  measure  of  our  minds, 
will  find  a  place  in  the  heavenly  home  for  many 
whom  we,  with  the  small  measure  of  authority 
committed  to  us,  do  not  feel  justified  in  admitting 
to  or  retaining  in  the  visible  church. 

The  day's  work  comes  to  a  close  late  at  night. 
Early  next  morning  the  itinerator  puts  off  to 
another  appointment,  where  similar  scenes  are 
rehearsed.  Onward  he  goes,  toiling  and  rejoic- 
ing, and  occasionally  sorrowing,  but  recompensed 
[lis] 


MISSIONARY  JOYS 

for  his  labors  beyoud  the  power  of  auy  toDgue 
to  tell. 

People  who  are  not  on  the  list  of  itiuerators— 
even  missionary  mothers,  whose  feet  are  not  "set 
in  a  large  room  "  as  far  as  traveling  about  is  con- 
cerned— are  not  denied  occasional  rich  glimpses 
into  changed  hearts  and  lives.  One  day  at  the 
Wednesday  afternoon  Bible  class  and  testimouy 
meeting,  which  I  held  for  years,  an  old  woman 
known  as  Pobai  Halmoni  (Grandmother  of  Treas- 
ure) was  iu  such  haste  to  testify  that  she  deprived 
us  altogether  of  the  last  portion  of  Mrs.  Pak's  re- 
marks. She  said  she  wanted  to  tell  everybody 
what  grace  had  done  for  her  in  enabling  her  to 
control  herself  under  very  trying  circumstances. 
It  seemed  that  her  son,  who  was  not  a  Christian, 
had  taken  to  himself  a  kesaing  emi  (public 
woman)  after  the  death*  of  his  wife  a  year  or  two 
before,  and  all  had  gone  on  smoothly  until  lately, 
when  his  fancy  roved  to  another.  Then  the 
trouble  began.  The  woman  fell  upon  him  with 
fist  and  foot.  She  tore  the  clothes  from  his  back, 
she  stripped  him  of  his  most  precious  possessions 
—his  hat,  umbrella,  shoes,  his  fine  silk  garments 
—and  strewed  them  in  shreds  along  the  high- 
way. Then  she  took  her  seat  on  the  ground  in 
the  midst  of  the  ruin  she  had  wrought,  and 
shouted  out  insulting  things. 

"She  even  went  so  far,"  said  Pobai  Halmoni, 
looking  around  impressively  at  the  other  women, 

[119] 


INSIDE   VIEWS   OF   MISSION    LIFE 

"as  to  iutimate  that  we  were  notliiug  but  butcher 
rascals,  anyway!''  Theu  she  took  stoues  aud 
pelted  the  large  earthen  water  jars,  aud  alto- 
gether it  was  a  very  uproarious  piece  of  business. 

Aud  how  was  the  old  woman,  the  head  of  the 
house,  taking  all  this  ? 

"What  I  wanted  to  do,''  said  the  Grandmother 
of  Treasure,  "was  to  go  out  and  fight  her  with 
all  my  might.  I  wanted  to  take  her  by  the 
shoulders  and  give  her  a  good  twistiug,  or  batter 
her  with  stones  from  the  roadside,  and  if  all  this 
had  happened  a  few  years  ago,  that  is  j  ust  what 
I  would  have  done.  But  the  thought  came  to  me 
in  time,  '  What  will  the  neighbors  think  if  I 
should  do  such  a  thing  ?  They  would  every  one 
of  them  say,  "  Here  is  this  old  woniau  who  pro- 
fesses to  be  a  Christian,  and  just  look  at  her 
pulling  hair  and  throwing  stones  and  screaming 
out  abuse  like  any  unbeliever!"'  So  I  re- 
strained myself  and  paid  her  no  attention  what- 
ever, although  the  quieter  I  was  the  louder  she 
yelled,  and  the  more  stones  she  threw.  My  in- 
side was  fluttering  back  and  forth  like  a  fan,  but 
I  didn't  answer  her  a  word.  Even  my  little 
grandchildren  standing  about  knew  why  I  didn't 
go  out  aud  fight  her.  '  It's  because  grandmother 
is  a  Christian,'  they  said. 

"We  pacified  her  finally  by  giving  her  a 
house  and  lot  aud  a  pair  of  gold  rings,"  the  old 
lady  concluded,  "and  all  has  been  quiet  since, 

[120] 


MISSIOx\ARY  JOYS 

although  my  iuside  still  flatters  like  a  fan  when- 
ever I  think  of  it.  Of  course  she  feels  that  she 
beat  us  conix^letely,  but  I  know  that  I  am  the 
real  victor  and  I  want  to  thank  God  for  it. 
Nothing  but  his  grace  ever  could  have  enabled 
me  to  keep  still." 

A  chorus  of  assent  went  up  from  the  other 
women,  who  all  know  Pobai  Halmoni  to  be  by 
nature  a  very  testy  and  irritable  old  body.  She 
it  was  who,  on  the  occasion  of  the  funeral  of  her 
son's  wife  a  few  years  ago,  yielded  to  pressure 
from  the  heathen  rekitives  of  the  dead  woman, 
and  allowed  paper  money  to  be  prepared  for 
offering  to  the  departed  spiiit  at  the  funeral. 
The  believing  brethren  and  sisters,  who  had 
come  to  pay  their  respects,  saw  the  heap  of 
money  and  lost  no  time  in  expressing  their  dis- 
approval by  leaving  the  house  in  a  body,  whereat 
the  old  woman,  forgetting  all  the  proprieties  of 
the  occasion,  abused  them  soundly  at  the  top  of 
her  voice. 

At  another  Wednesday  meeting  not  long  after, 
the  Bible  woman,  old  Sin  Ssi,  said  she  had  some- 
thing to  bring  up  for  consideration  after  the 
meeting  was  over,  but  she  was  so  full  of  it  that  it 
all  came  out  as  soon  as  an  opportunity  was  given 
for  testimony.     This  was  her  story  : 

Away  up  in  the  mountains  of  north  Korea  is 
a  high  peak  known  as  Sam  Do  Kan,  or  Three 
Province  Space,  from  whose  summit  the  traveler 
[121] 


INSIDE  VIEWS   OF  MISSION   LIFE 

is  afforded  a  wide  survey,  Dot  ODly  of  Pyeng 
Yang  Province  in  which  the  mountain  is  situated, 
but  also  of  three  other  provinces.  Here  on  this 
wind-swept,  lonely  spot,  clustered  against  the 
sunny  side  of  sheltering  rocks,  lies  a  little  ham- 
let of  eleven  houses.  Of  the  families  living  in 
them,  two  were  related.  Let  us  call  them  the 
Ko  and  the  Im  family. 

Year  after  year  this  little  group  of  God's 
creatures  had  lived  and  died  in  the  abject  fear 
of  evil  spirits.  But  one  day  a  young  carpenter 
from  a  town  in  the  valley  below  found  his  way 
up  to  the  little  hamlet  in  the  pursuit  of  his  call- 
ing, and  as  he  wrought  he  told  a  wonderful  story. 
He  said  there  is  One,  stronger  than  any  evil 
spirit,  who  could  check  them  all  when  he  would. 
This  is  none  other  than  the  Son  of  God,  and  as 
he  and  his  Father  had  looked  down  upon  a  world 
of  creatures,  sinning,  suffering  and  lost,  out  of 
their  love  and  pity  had  come  a  very  strange  and 
gracious  thing.  They  had  agreed  together  that 
the  Son  should  come  to  earth,  sinless  among  sin- 
ful men,  and  should  himself  receive  the  punish- 
ment due  to  us,  so  that  we,  taking  advantage  of 
his  atonement,  could  find  our  way  to  God. 

An  outcry  of  scorn  and  derision  awaited  the 
completion  of  the  tale,  but  in  the  midst  of  it  one 
man  sat  silent.  Into  his  darkened  heart  flashed 
a  ray  of  light.  Although  he  did  not  know  it, 
God  had  spoken  to  his  soul,  and  he  could  never 

[122] 


MISSIONARY  JOYS 

again  be  as  he  had  been  before.  From  that  mo- 
ment  Mr.  Ko  walked  ainoug  the  redeemed,  but 
his  sister  in-law 's  husband  listened  with  a  hard 
heart. 

''  Is  this  story  true  or  not?  "  he  thought.  For 
his  part,  he  thought  not.  At  any  rate,  devil- 
worship  had  been  good  enough  for  his  fathers  and 
it  was  good  enough  for  him.  Let  others  run  off 
if  they  liked  after  any  crazy  noise  they  might 
hear, — a  devil- worshiper  he  would  continue  to  be. 

Time  passed  on  and  great  trouble  came  upon 
the  household  of  Mr.  Im.  Poor  they  had  always 
been,  and  yet  they  had  what  they  called  enough, 
— space  in  the  little  room  on  which  to  crouch  in 
the  daytime  and  stretch  out  at  night,  a  pair  of 
chopsticks  and  a  spoou,  a  rice  pot,  a  change  of 
garments  and  a  little  grain  ahead.  Even  with 
,so  meager  a  portion  they  had  not  felt  the  pinch 
of  discontent,  for  their  little  all  was  seasoned 
with  mutual  affection,  and  their  only  child  was 
a  son,  a  dutiful  and  healthy  lad  of  ten. 

They  had  looked  forward  with  joy  to  the  com- 
ing of  another  child  into  their  home,  hoping  that 
heaven  would  again  vouchsafe  a  son  to  wait  upon 
them  with  sacrificial  offerings  when  they  should 
have  entered  into  the  realm  of  shades.  And  now 
the  baby  was  here,  but  oh,  the  poor  mother ! 
Through  what  stress  of  mortal  agony  she  had 
passed  unaided,  no  one  might  know,  but  when  it 
was  over  she  was  paralyzed  from  the  waist  down, 

[123] 


INSIDE   VIEWS   OF   MISSION    LIFE 

and  worse  than  all  the  light  of  reasou  bad  fled. 
Mr.  Iin  walked  aimlessly  about  his  little  i)atch 
of  stony  grouud  or  stared  up  at  the  uuseeing  skies 
like  one  dazed.  What  act  of  sacrifice  or  worship 
had  he  left  uudoue  that  this  calamity  should 
come  upon  him"?  From  wheuce  should  he  draw 
fortitude  to  bear  it,  or  was  there  nothing  even  yet 
that  might  be  done  to  bring  back  health  and 
reasou  ?  Perhaps  if  he  summoned  courage  and 
wrote  out  a  fierce  objuration  of  the  demons,  and 
pasted  it  on  the  door,  they  might  be  induced  to 
let  the  baby's  mother  alone.  So  he  wrote  out  in 
big  bold  characters  what  by  no  means  expressed 
all  his  feelings,  and  stuck  this  on  the  door,  and 
waited  anxiously  for  a  change  that  did  not  come. 
Only  a  wild  and  vacant  stare  met  him  from  the 
eyes  that  he  loved.  All  day  she  sat  or  lay  on  the 
floor,  unable  to  rise  from  her  feet,  and  caring 
nothing  for  the  household  duties  that  had  always 
occupied  her  time.  Even  when  he  placed  the 
baby  in  her  arms  there  was  no  answering  sign  of 
mother-love  and  recognition. 

Springtime  and  harvest  came  and  went,  and 
the  bitterest  winter  known  for  many  years  settled 
down  over  the  bare  peak  of  Sam  Do  Kan.  Mr. 
Ini  had  not  beeu  able  to  look  properly  after  his 
crops,  and  he  found  himself  at  the  beginning  of 
winter  with  onlj^  a  little  broom  corn  between  his 
family  and  starvation.  Their  clothing  was  iu 
rags,  and  had  it  not  been  that  the  mountain  side 

[124] 


MISSIONARY  JOYS 

furnished  an  abundance  of  brush  for  fuel,  there 
would  have  been  little  to  relate  beyond  this 
point.  In  some  way  the  winter  dragged  by  and 
found  them  still  alive,  but  Mr.  Im  felt  that  the 
climax  of  misery  had  been  reached.  Hitherto  he 
had  joined  with  the  other  villagers  in  reviling  his 
brother-in-law  for  listening  to  the  words  of  the 
young  carpenter,  but  now  he  sought  him  out. 

"My  situation  is  beyond  all  speech,"  he  said. 
"  What  am  I  to  do  ?  If  only  the  baby's  mother 
had  her  reason  I  would  ask  nothing  more." 

Mr.  Ko  reached  up  to  the  little  shelf  and  took 
down  a  well-worn  Testament. 

"Let  us  do  as  Christ  did,"  he  said  simply. 
"You  know  when  he  was  upon  earth  he  cured 
people  of  all  sorts  of  diseases,  and  cast  out 
devils  too.  Maybe  he  will  do  this  to-day  if  we 
trust  him,"  And  Mr.  Im  cried  out  from  the 
depths  of  a  broken  heart  that  he  would  believe 
in  him  and  worship  him  to  the  end  of  his  days,  if 
he  would  only  grant  this  thing. 

So  they  took  the  Testament  and  the  hymn  book 
and  went  over  to  the  room  where  the  poor  woman 
sat.  Kneeling  at  her  side,  they  prayed  and  sang 
and  read  from  the  Word,  and  it  really  came  to 
pass  that  her  reason  was  restored  to  her. 

Now  the  Committee  of  Missions  for  the  whole 

Pyeng  Yang    field    and    the   very   much    alive 

and  active  local  society  of  the  one  Presbyterian 

church  organization  then  existing  in  Pyeng  Yang 

[  125  ] 


INSIDE   VIEWS   OF   MISSION    LIFE 

City  became  active.  Mr.  Choi,  once  a  priest  of 
Buddha,  bat  uow  glad  to  serve  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  in  any  capacity,  was  commissioned  to  can- 
vass the  country  around  Sam  Do  Kan  in  the  inter- 
ests of  Christ's  kingdom.  Finding  the  people  in 
lonely  mountain  regions  more  accessible  to  the 
gospel  than  the  more  urbane  dwellers  of  the 
plains,  he  had  penetrated  deep  defiles  and  valleys 
of  the  mountains,  and  had  made  his  way  to  the 
top  of  Sam  Do  Kan. 

On  his  return  he  was  met  by  Mrs.  Pak,  wife  of 
the  Chinese  teacher  in  the  academy,  with  the 
polite  inquiry  as  to  whether  he  had  had  an  en- 
joyable time.  But  he  gravely  suggested  that  there 
could  be  little  pleasure  when  his  eyes  beheld 
poverty  more  dire  than  anything  he  had  ever 
imagined.  Then  he  described  the  home  of  Mr. 
Im,  the  little  room  scarcely  more  than  four  by 
eight  feet,  and  bare  of  a  cash  worth  of  furnishing, 
the  naked  boy,  the  poor  woman,  absolutely  un- 
clothed except  for  a  bunch  of  filthy  rags,  only  a 
little  broom  corn  in  the  house  to  eat,  and  yet 
happy  in  the  Saviour  and  poring  over  his  Word. 
Where  they  had  secured  the  means  to  buy  them, 
Mr.  Choi  could  not  conjecture,  but  they  had  a 
hymn  book  worth  sixty  cash  (about  three  and 
one  half  cents),  and  a  Testament  worth  two  yang 
(about  twelve  cents),  and  the  books  showed  signs 
of  constant  usage. 

Mr.  Choi  said  he  felt  that  he  could  not  forego 

[126] 


MISSIONARY  JOYS 

attendance  ux30u  the  siiuimer  class  for  Christian 
workers  which  was  then  in  session  at  Pyeug  Yang, 
but  as  soon  as  it  was  over  he  wanted  to  go  back 
to  Sain  Do  Kan  with  substantial  aid  for  Mr.  Im 
and  his  family. 

The  word  spread  rapidly  among  the  good 
Dorcases  of  the  city  church,  and  there  was  a  great 
bustling  about.  This  was  the  business  which  Sin 
Ssi  wished  to  bring  up  before  the  Wednesday 
afternoon  meeting,  and  her  lips  had  hardly  closed 
over  the  story  when  contributions  of  clothes  and 
money  began  to  pour  in.  In  a  very  few  moments 
the  sum  total  of  contributions,  in  addition  to  some 
things  which  had  already  been  given,  amounted 
to  fifteen  yang  (about  one  dollar),  besides  a 
promised  heap  of  half- worn  garments. 

The  money  was  invested  the  next  day  in  three 
pieces  of  minyung,  a  strong  cotton  cloth,  much 
used  by  Koreans,  and  as  soon  as  the  class  was 
over,  Mr.  Choi  headed  a  relief  expedition  com- 
posed of  a  coolie  loaded  up  with  the  cloth  and 
gai-ments,  and  two  women  of  the  Pyeng  Yang 
church,  who  wanted  to  see  with  their  own 
eyes  the  misery  which  he  had  described,  and  re- 
lieve it  with  their  own  hands.  Thus  they  took 
up  their  way  to  Sam  Do  Kan,  and  there  they 
stayed  for  a  month,  teaching  and  preaching  as 
they  could  find  or  make  opportunity^ 

Opportunities  to  comfort  and  bless  come  to  all 
of  us.     One  afternoon  I  had  just  composed  myself 

[127] 


INSIDE  VIEWS   OF   MISSION   LIFE 

for  those  fifteen  supiue  miuutes  which  I  like 
to  snatch  between  the  halves  of  the  day,  when 
the  door  of  the  room  burst  open  without  auy 
ceremou}^,  and  in  came  a  i^oor  old  woman,  sorrow 
and  hopelessness  written  on  her  face.  It  was  the 
grandmother  of  Pilsooni,  a  little  boy  of  two  years, 
an  only  son,  the  center  of  all  the  family  hopes, 
who  had  died  a  few  weeks  before  after  struggling 
for  months  with  an  attack  of  dysentery.  In  spite 
of  all  expostulations,  his  daily  diet  had  consisted 
largely  of  green  corn,  cucumbers,  crab  apples  and 
chestnuts— for  the  reason,  all-sufficient  with 
Korean  parents,  that  "he  wanted  it."  Now 
he  was  gone  and  grief  lay  heavy  on  all  the  family, 
especially  the  grandmother  whose  particular 
charge  he  had  been.  Tears  were  raining  down 
her  wrinkled  fiice  as  she  ran  to  the  side  of  the 
couch  and  clasped  my  hand  in  hers. 

' '  Tell  me,  is  it  true  ?  ' '  she  said.  ' '  They  say  he 
will  be  grown  up  when  I  see  him  again.  I  won't 
know  him  if  he  is  grown  up.  I  would  be  afraid 
of  him.  I  want  to  carry  him  on  my  back  again 
and  look  over  my  shoulder  into  his  little  face.  A 
hundred  times  a  day  I  turn  my  head  thinking 
surely  he  is  there.  Tell  me  that  what  they  say 
isn't  true." 

I,  too,  knew  what  it  was  to  long  unspeakably 
for  the  weight  of  a  dear  little  body  and  the  pres- 
sure of  a  warm  little  head  on  my  breast,  and  to 
listen  for  the  patter  of  baby  feet  where  there  was 

[128] 


MISSIONARY  JOYS 

only  silence.  So  I  could  sympatliize  with  her. 
She  was  dirty  and  ill  smelling,  and  I,  to  her,  a 
I)erson  of  uncanny  comiDlexion  and  of  strange 
race,  but  as  we  wept  in  each  other's  arms  we  were 
conscious  only  of  our  common  motherhood,  and 
the  blessed  assurance  that  God  would  give  us  by 
and  by  all  that  we  longed  for. 

Another  happy  moment  was  when  one  of  the 
students  in  the  academy  told  me  that  his  wife 
said,  after  I  had  called  on  her  in  her  little  home, 
that  I  ^'  was  just  like  a  loving-hearted  old  Korean 
woman."  However  that  might  seem  to  some  of 
my  fastidious  friends  in  America,  to  me  it  was  a 
precious  compliment.  Years  of  expatriation,  and 
effort  to  project  my  self  into  the  language,  customs 
and  feelings  of  another  people,  were  richly  rej^aid 
by  that  sentence. 

One  morning,  just  at  the  beginning  of  the 
opening  exercises  of  the  women's  Sunday  school 
which  I  had  in  charge,  two  of  the  good  sisters 
came  in  with  a  third  woman  whom  they  seated 
close  to  my  feet,  so  close  that  neither  she  nor  I 
could  move  without  touching  each  other.  She 
was  very  young,  not  more  than  eighteen,  with  a 
beautiful  baby  boy  six  months  old  rolling  about 
naked  in  her  lap.  The  rest  of  us  could  not  look 
at  him  without  smiling,  but  her  glance  fell  upon 
him  with  utter  indifference.  She  sat  looking 
down  as  if  absorbed  in  some  sort  of  inward  con- 
templation, and  after  the  service  was  over  the 

[129] 


INSIDE  VIEWS   OF  MISSION   LIFE 

other  women  told  me  her  story.  Ever  since  the 
birth  of  her  child  she  had  been  tormented  by  two 
devils,  one  a  woman,  and  one  a  big  boy,  both 
well-known  demoniacal  characters  to  all  Koreans. 
Every  time  she  shut  her  eyes  she  could  see  them 
menacing  her.  All  day  and  much  of  the  night 
she  sat  with  head  bowed  and  eyes  closed,  unable 
to  resist  the  terrible  fascination  which  they  exer- 
cised over  her.  When  all  the  arts  of  the  heathen 
exorcists  had  been  tried  without  avail,  some  one 
suggested  that  she  be  taken  down  to  the  Christian 
village  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain. 

^'They  say  the  devils  don't  stay  where  He  is," 
they  said  to  each  other  in  whisi^ers,  for  fear  the 
devils  might  hear.  So  she  was  taken  down  to  the 
church  and  sat  among  the  worshipers  and  lis- 
tened to  the  singing  and  prayers.  The  church 
sisters  met  and  prayed  over  her  and  their  efforts 
availed  to  the  extent  of  banishing  the  boy  demon, 
but  the  woman  still  remained  with  her.  To  go  a 
step  further  and  take  her  to  where  the  mission- 
aries were  was  next  determined  upon.  So  here 
she  was. 

I  had  never  expected  to  play  the  role  of  exorcist 
of  evil  spirits,  but  my  mind  was  made  uj)  in  an 
instant  that  if  I  had  any  power,  be  it  no  more 
than  mere  animal  magnetism,  this  poor  creature 
should  get  the  benefit  of  it.  I  drew  her  close  to 
my  side,  stroked  her  shoulders  and  arms  and  held 
her  hands  in  a  close  clasp.     She  looked  up  at  me 

[130] 


MISSIONARY  JOYS 

dully,  without  the  least  change  of  counteuauce. 
The  uext  Sunday  the  little  scene  was  enacted  as 
before,  but  on  the  third  Sunday  when  I  put  my 
arm  around  her,  her  face  relaxed  into  a  smile. 
On  the  fourth  Sunday  she  failed  to  appear,  and 
when  I  asked  after  her  I  was  told  that  she  had 
gone  home  cured.  Fine  drawn  psychological  ex- 
planations as  to  what  her  complaint  may  have 
been  were  of  little  concern  to  her  or  myself.  All 
we  really  knew  or  cared  much  about  was  that, 
whereas  she  had  been  oppressed  and  ill,  she  was 
now  free  and  well,  and  we  united  in  giving  the 
glory  to  God. 

It  has  been  our  privilege  to  see  wonderful  trans- 
formations of  individual  character.     Mrs.  Q 

was  a  young  missionary  who  had  been  six  weeks 
on  the  field.  By  one  wile  and  another  she  suc- 
ceeded in  inducing  a  little  group  of  street  Arabs 
to  meet  at  her  home  for  a  few  moments  every  Sun- 
day to  learn  hymns  and  Bible  verses.  They  were 
as  dirty  and  disgustingly  unconventional  as  little 
mortals  could  well  be,  and  none  more  so  than 
Kapsooni,  the  dark  and  beetle-browed,  who  never, 

during  the  few  weeks  that  Mrs.  Q was  able 

to  meet  with  them,  made  any  sort  of  response  to 
her  advances. 

Years  passed  by  and  Kapsooni  faded  fi'om  her 
mind.  Then  there  came  a  time  when  the  mis- 
sionary lay  on  a  hospital  bed,  in  one  of  the  insti- 
tutions provided  by  Christian  benevolence  in 
[131] 


INSIDE  VIEWS   OF   MISSION   LIFE 

America  for  suffering  jjeople  in  Korea.  The  doc- 
tor  had  done  his  work,  and  she  was  slowly  com- 
ing back  from  the  region  of  merciful  darkness 
where  she  had  lain  for  hours.  As  the  long  hours 
of  the  night  drew  on  she  was  conscious  of  a  brown- 
skinned  angel  in  nurse  cap  and  uniform,  who  ap- 
peared at  her  bedside  at  the  slightest  movement 
on  her  part,  and  moved  noiselessly  about  the 
room,  ministering  to  her  comfort.  That  this 
skillful  and  faithful  nurse  could  be  the  Kapsooni 
whom  she  had  known  seemed  like  a  part  of  her 
dreams,  but  it  was  true. 

E  Keui  Poong  was  a  young  tough  lounging 
about  the  official  headquarters  in  Pyeng  Yang. 
One  day  he  went  with  the  crowd  to  have  a  look 
at  the  strange  being  who  had  come  to  town,  it  was 
said,  to  teach  a  new  religion.  He  was  certainly 
a  curiosity,  with  his  fair  hair,  dark  clothes, 
businesslike  stride,  and  disconcerting  way  of 
looking  straight  at  you  with  eyes  that  were  round 
instead  of  almond-shaped,  and  of  an  unheard-of 
color.  The  crowd  was  perfectly  motionless  with 
fear  and  wonder,  but  when  the  stranger  turned 
his  back  and  was  walking  rapidly  away,  E  Keui 
Poong  rose  up  cautiously  from  behind  a  wall  and 
threw  a  stone  at  him.  After  a  time  he  drifted  to 
Wonsan,  became  a  cook  in  a  missionary  house- 
hold, and  was  gripped  by  the  truth  of  the  gospel. 
Through  every  stage  of  his  upward  progress  from 
the  catechumenate  at  the  bottom  of  the  ladder  to 

[132] 


MISSIONARY  JOYS 

a  position  of  semiuary  graduate  aud  ordained 
minister  at  the  top,  lie  proved  his  Mtbfalness  and 
ability,  aud  when  the  church  looked  around  for 
a  representative  to  send  as  their  first  foreign  mis- 
sionary to  the  large  island  of  Quelpaerde,  he  was 
chosen.  'At  the  farewell  meeting  given  in  his 
honor  before  he  started  for  his  field  of  labor,  this 
incident  of  the  stone- throwing  was  related  by  one 
of  the  speakers.  A  little  laugh  went  around,  but 
E  Keui  Pooug  sat  with  bowed  head  and  face  cov- 
ered, the  big  tears  dropping  through  his  fingers 
to  the  ground. 

Mrs.  Ko  was  a  widow  with  several  small  chil- 
dren. Some  faith  she  must  have  had,  for  she 
attended  Sunday  school  regularly,  but  there  was 
hardly  one  among  the  women  in  my  class  who 
seemed  more  filthy  of  mind  and  body  and  sullen 
of  temper.  She,  too,  secured  work  in  a  mission 
household,  and  a  change  set  in.  She  began  to 
wash  her  hands  and  face  occasionally,  and  a  look 
of  peace  took  the  place  of  the  old  sullen  frown. 
For  a  number  of  years  now  she  has  been  filling 
the  position  of  matron  in  a  hospital  in  another 
statioD.  a  very  useful  and  much  respected  per- 
son. Not  long  ago  I  was  detained  in  that  station 
over  Sunday.  I  was  not  very  well,  and  Mrs.  Ko 
sought  me  out,  looking  as  neat  and  happy  as 
heart  could  wish.  We  sat  together  in  the  twi- 
light, and  she  told  me  of  her  childhood  home 
in  Yellow  Sea  Province,  of  the  old  mother  still 

[133] 


INSIDE  VIEWS   OF  MISSION   LIFE 

liviug  there,  and  of  the  state  of  Christian  faith 
of  the  various  members  of  the  family.  She  had 
her  little  red  hymn  book  with  her — the  Korean 
Christians  do  not  stir  far  without  that — and  pres- 
ently she  said,  "Let  us  sing  some  hymns."  So 
we  sang  several  hymns  of  her  selection.  Then 
she  said  (and  many  a  Christian  in  the  home- 
lauds  might  have  envied  the  ease  with  which 
the  words  fell  from  her  lips),  "Now  let  us  have 
prayer  together."  We  knelt  in  the  gathering 
dusk  and  prayed,  she  first  and  I  after  her.  I 
have  with  me  yet  the  sense  of  strength  and  edifi- 
cation that  accompanied  her  ministry. 

Perhaps  no  one  thing  commends  Christianity 
more  to  the  heathen  Korean  than  the  change  of 
mental  attitude  which  it  works  as  to  the  idea 
of  death.  Above  all  things  else  the  non-Chris- 
tian Korean  dreads  the  last  great  change.  He 
avoids  the  very  word,  preferring  euphemistic 
substitutes  such  as  "going  back,"  "bidding  the 
world  farewell,"  etc.,  and  when  he  sees  death  ap- 
proaching, he  will  slip  away  and  leave  his  closest 
friend  or  nearest  relative  to  pass  away  alone. 
But  Christianity  changes  all  this.  The  power  of 
the  dreaded  monster  is  gone  and  he  becomes  the 
good  friend,  opening  up  to  the  soul  the  gates  of 
life  eternal. 

Several  years  ago  a  woman  living  near  by  gave 
birth  to  a  little  daughter.  No  Korean  woman 
has  proper  care  at  such  times.     The  weather  was 

[134] 


MISSIONARY  JOYS 

very  cold  and  she  contracted  pneumonia.  For 
nine  days  she  crouched  or  half  reclined  on  the 
floor,  unable  to  lie  down  for  the  pain,  and  on 
the  tenth  day  she  passed  away.  She  had  been 
a  very  ordinary  woman,  unable  to  read  and  too 
busy  to  attempt  to  learn,  but  it  was  touching  to 
see  the  simple  dignity  with  which  she  set  her 
poor  little  affairs  in  order  and  prepared  to  meet 
the  final  change.  She  told  her  husband  not  to 
mourn  for  her  but  to  think  of  her  in  glory  with 
the  little  son  who  had  gone  on  some  time  before. 
The  baby  daughter  she  committed  to  him  with 
the  charge  to  love  her  as  fondly  and  educate  her 
as  carefully  as  if  she  had  been  a  boy.  She  sent 
her  grateful  thanks  to  me  for  some  grape  juice 
and  canned  raspberries  which  I  had  sent  over  to 
her,  and  asked  that  her  portion  of  the  winter's 
supply  of  kimchi,  a  native  sauerkraut,  which  she 
had  toiled  to  make  and  which  she  would  have 
eaten  had  she  lived,  might  be  sent  to  us  in  re- 
turn. And  with  perfect  quietness  and  fearless- 
ness she  passed  over  the  border  into  the  Heavenly 
Laud. 

Cho  Ssi  was  a  young  woman,  a  patient  in  a 
mission  hospital.  She  was  a  great  sufferer,  and 
for  some  time  very  rebellious  and  unreconciled 
to  God's  will  for  her.  She  cried  and  beat  her 
breast  with  her  fists,  saying  that  she  did  not  want 
to  die,  she  wanted  to  get  well  and  walk  like  other 
people.     Words  of  love  and  comfort  were  spoken 

[135] 


INSIDE  VIEWS   OF   MISSION   LIFE 

to  her,  directing  lier  to  the  Healer  of  all  illnesses, 
and  she  was  left  to  think  about  it.  The  next 
morning,  when  the  nurse  in  charge  visited  the 
ward,  she  looked  up  with  face  all  glorified  and 
said  :  "  Oh,  pouin,  I  am  so  happy  !  My  body  is 
suffering,  but  mj^  heart  is  clean  and  at  peace.  I 
am  going  home  to  my  heavenly  Father  very  soon, 
and,  pouin,  I  am  going  to  tell  him  how  kind  you 
and  all  the  hospital  helpers  (naming  each  one) 
were  to  me.  I  am  going  to  ask  him  to  bless  this 
work  and  everybody  that  helped  keep  me  here 
so  long."  She  lived  only  a  few  days  longer,  but 
was  always  happy  and  at  peace. 

The  report  of  the  trained  nurse  from  which 
this  incident  was  taken  tells  this  also  : 

"One  of  our  little  day-school  pupils  came  to 
the  hospital  very  ill,  but  after  a  few  days  we 
had  hope  for  her  recovery.  The  mother,  how- 
ever, was  troubled  because  she  ate  so  little,  and 
took  advantage  of  the  momentary  absence  of  the 
attendant  to  give  her  solid  food.  She  became 
violently  ill.  The  mother,  realizing  her  mistake, 
wept  bitterly,  and  begged  for  her  life,  but  noth- 
ing could  be  done  for  her  and  she  died  two  days 
later.  Just  before  the  end  came,  little  Undoki 
looked  up  into  her  mother's  face  and  pulling  her 
hands  away  from  her  eyes,  said:  'Don't  weep, 
mother,  it  is  all  right,  for  I  am  going  to  see 
Jesus.  Look,  mother,  he  is  right  here.  Don't 
you  see  his  hands  reaching  for  mine?  He  has 
[136] 


MISSIONARY  JOYS 

something  so  sweet  for  me.  He  wants  me  to 
come.  See,  mother,  he  is  right  here,  and  has 
my  hands  and  I  must  go.  Don't  weep.'  Her 
little  hands,  which  she  had  extended  to  grasp 
those  of  the  Master,  dropped,  for  she  had  gone 
with  him.  For  some  time  we  sat  in  silence  with 
heads  bowed.  We  could  not  see  the  Master,  but 
we  all  felt  his  presence  with  us." 

A  few  days  ago  I  sat  for  a  while  beside  the 
bedside  of  one  of  our  most  promising  college 
graduates,  a  splendid  young  fellow  of  fine 
physique  and  excellent  gifts  of  mind  and  heart. 
We  had  hoped  for  great  things  from  him  and 
he  had  been  making  good  in  connection  with 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  in  Tokio, 
looking  after  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  Korean 
young  men  who  are  taking  an  education  in  Japan. 
But  the  '^  white  plague,"  which  takes  such  heavy 
toll  of  this  people,  had  claimed  him,  and  he 
had  come  home  to  die.  As  I  entered  everything 
was  very  still  about  the  place.  The  dooryard 
was  swept  clean  and  bare  about  the  steps,  but 
flaunted  a  brave  outside  fringe  of  late  nasturtiums 
and  dahlias,  all  flooded  with  October  sunshine. 
On  the  doorstep  a  pair  of  beautiful  shoes  of 
black  and  white  kid  indicated  the  little  room 
which  he  occupied.  I  announced  my  presence 
by  coughing  outside  the  room,  in  the  Korean 
way,  and  he  opened  the  door  for  me.  He  was 
still  able  to  get  about  a  little,  but  the  big  frame 

[137] 


INSIDE  VIEWS   OF  MISSION   LIFE 

was  wasted  away,  and  the  eyes  were  bright  with 
fever.  His  voice  was  gone,  but  he  whispered  a 
welcome,  and  motioned  me  to  a  seat  on  the  floor 
beside  his  pallet.  We  had  a  few  words  to- 
gether, cheerful  and  comfortable  words,  and  a 
few  sentences  of  i)rayer.  There  was  no  repining, 
no  foreboding.  It  was  autumn  in  the  little  room, 
as  well  as  outside,  but  the  promise  of  the  resurrec- 
tion in  that  fair  ''  Spring  of  springs  "  was  pres- 
ent and  sure.  How  different  it  might  have  been 
with  him  !  I  thought  of  the  black  darkness  into 
which  the  heathen  soul  takes  its  faltering  way, 
of  the  loud  wailings,  the  tearing  of  the  hair  and 
the  setting  of  the  teeth  in  the  flesh  with  which 
the  hopeless  grief  of  relatives  is  expressed.  And 
I  felt  glad  that  the  gospel  has  come  to  Korea. 

When  all  is  said  and  done,  there  is  no  life 
more  richly  and  radiantly  blessed  than  that  of 
the  missionary.  It  is  a  great  thing  to  be  on  the 
firing  line,  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  the  Lord  of 
Hosts,  one  with  him  in  the  victorious  effort  to 
clear  the  way  for  the  young  Bride  of  Christ,  and 
to  stand  aside,  as  it  were,  and  watch  her  as  she 
comes  up  out  of  the  dark  wilderness  where  all 
her  past  has  been  spent,  clad  in  her  beautiful 
garments  and  leaning  upon  her  Beloved. 


[138] 


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1    1012  01058  7683 


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